3   1822  01226  9312 


LIBRARY 

UMVtftSlTY  tF 


SAN  DJEGO 
V 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFOK-slA,  SAN  DIEGQ 

LA  JQLLA,  CALIFORNIA 


3   1822  01226  9312 


v 


PAPERS  OF    THE  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY  OF   DELAWARE. 

I  V  . 


MEMOIR 


JOHN  M.  CLAYTON 


JOSEPH    P.  COMEGYS. 


THE   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   OF    DELAWARE, 
WILMINGTON: 

1882. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by  Joseph  P.  Comegys, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PRESS  OF  FERRIS  BROS., 
WILMINGTON,  DEL. 


The  following  Memoir  consists  of  pa 
pers  which  were  read  before  the  Historical 
Society  of  Delaware,  on  two  several  occa 
sions,  with  additions  subsequently  made  by 
the  author. 


MEMOIR 


OF 


JOHN    M.   CLAYTON 


MR.  P.RESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HISTORICAL  SO 
CIETY  OF  DELAWARE: 

I  should  state,  before  I  commence  my  reading  of 
this  memoir,  that  I  have  exhibited  the  subject  of  it 
in  a  most  favorable  light.  A  memoir  should  do  nothing 
less  ;  especially  when  prepared,  as  this  has  been,  at 
the  instance  of  a  Society  concerned  in  presenting .  the 
distinguished  men  of  the  State,  and  the  features  of 
her  history,  in  the  best  'view  for  public  admiration. 
With  this  in  my  mind,  and  yet  not  forgetting  the  duty 
I  owed  to  truth,  I  have  delineated  the  character  and 
achievements  of  John  M.  Clayton  as  they  appeared  to 
me,  his  cotemporary  and  admirer;  though  not  insen 
sible,  however,  to  knowledge  of  infirmities  of  nature 
common  to  most  of  us.  I  have  presented  him  as 
he  should  be  shown  to  the  people  of  Delaware,  in 
his  public  aspect,  as  tradition,  personal  knowledge,  and 


5  MEMOIR   OF 

the  records  of  our  country,  exhibit  him ;  feeling*  it  to 
be  the  duty  I  was  under  to  the  Society,  to  its  inter 
ests  and  purposes,  and  to  candor,  to  look  at  and  por 
tray  him  just  as  I  have  done.  Like  other  men,  he 
had  weaknesses;  but  no  man  can  point  to  any  act, 
or  expression,  of  his  private  life,  even,  that  shows  the 
slightest  stain  upon  his  character.  Though  a  member 
of  no  church  or  religious  congregation,  he  yet  was  an 
unquestioning  believer  in  every  article  and  creed  of 
the  Christian  religion ;  and  had  no  respect  for,  or 
patience  with,  the  sentiments  of  «its  opponents.  He 
cherished,  especially,  the  moral  virtues  of  honesty, 
fidelity  to  friendship,  gratitude ;  and  never  forgot  the 
services,  how  slight  soever,  that  any  rendered  him,  nor 
failed  to  grieve  for  those  who  forgot  the  favors  he 
had  done  them.  There  were,  of  course,  in  his  life, 
some  of  the  latter,  as  there  are  in  that  of  other  men, 
but  his  charitable  spirit  made  him  willing  to  refer  their 
defection  to  some  temptation  of  the  dmil  which  they 
were  too  weak  to  resist.  But  he  never  ^trusted  them 
again ;  his  knowledge  of  human  nature  would  not  allow 
that.  Nor  did  he  permit  them,  by  any  act  of  his, 
to  suppose  that  he  could.  Still  he  could  not  descend 
to  vindictiveness.  Such  was  the  absolute  sway,  almost, 
that  John  M.  Clayton  held  in  Delaware,  politically, 
from  1828  till  the  close  of  General  Taylor's  adminis 
tration,  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  that  he 
never  once  failed  to  lead  his  political  friends  in  the 
course  he  preferred — which  shows  not  only  the  superi 
ority  of  his  judgment  with  respect  to  the  affairs  of  his 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  j 

party,  but  that  there  was  no  fault  in  him  as  a  leader 
that  could  form  a  nucleus  for  opposition.  He  reigned 
supreme ;  *  as  a  party  leader  should,  who  possesses  in 
the  eminent  degree  he  did,  sagacity,  oratorical  power, 
unselfishness.  Men  there  were  of  his  own  party  who 
envied  his  power  and  hoped  to  destroy  it ;  but  when 
ever  they  essayed  a  movement  for  that  purpose,  it  was 
always  defeated.  His  party  in  Delaware  knew  that 
he  was  their  champion,  and  not  the  small  men  who 
assailed  him ;  and  they  clung  to  him  with  all  the 
fidelity  which  loyally  to  their  own  party  advantage 
required  of  them.  And  such  fidelity,  they  well  knew, 
could  not  be  yielded  to  a  worthier  person.  Nor  less 
had  he  the  respect  of  his  opponents.  They  made  war 
upon  him,  of  course,  and  upon  the  political  theories 
he  supported ;  but,  at  the  same  time  he  did  nothing, 
public  or  private,  that  abated  their  admiration  of  him 
in  the  least.  Oh  for  the  return  of  the  days  when  men 
could  pardon  the  difference  of  opinion  of  their  political 

adversaries,   and    respect    the    honorable    methods    they 

* 
took    for   enforcing  it ! 


MEMOIR   OP 


MEMOIR. 


I  beg  you  believe,  that,  when  the  time  came  for 
performance  of  the  task  I  assumed,  in  accepting  the 
invitation  of  the  Society  to  read,  before  its  members, 
a  memoir  of  the  late  John  M.  Clayton,  I  regretted 
your  selection,  because  I  felt  that,  in  every  step  of 
my  progress  in  the  work  of  preparation,  I  should 
feel,  and  painfully  too,  that  other  hands  than  mine 
ought  to  have  been  employed  for  a  service,  all  the 
more  difficult,  because  the  subject  of  it  was  of  such 
importance,  in  his  day  and  generation,  that  only  the 
most  comprehensive  observer  and  delineator  of  men's 
character,  could  do  full  justice  to  his  merits.  Al 
though  John  M.  Clayton,  if  he  had  been  as  wise  as 
Solomon,  could  not  have  attained  the  renown  which, 
in  this  country,  only  crowns  the  career  of  great 
political,  national  leaders — because  he  was  a  citizen 
of  the  smallest  State  in  the  Union  —  yet,  he  had  a 
fame  as  a  statesman,  jurist,  and  man  of  splendid 
forensic  abilities,  which,  in  his  day,  was  very  wide 
and  solid,  and  was  promised  in  his  young  life  by 
the  intellectual  gifts  he  then  showed  that  he  pos- 


JOHN    M.  , CLAYTON.  g 

sessed.  All  his  friends  and  acquaintances  felt,  ere  he 
stepped  upon  the  stage  of  real,  active,  public  life,  at 
the  bar,  even,  that  he  would  soon  attain  an  eminence, 
among  men,  of  the  highest  grade.  Were  such  an 
ticipations  realized  ?  That  is  for  you  to  say,  when  I 
have  recounted  the  events  of  his  life,  his  career,  pri 
vate  and  public,  so  far  as  the  limits  of  this  paper 
will  allow  me  to  do  it.  And,  first,  let  me  give  you 
some  knowledge  of  the  birth  and  parentage  of  our 
subject. 

In  England,  in  tracing  family  descent,  it  is  consid 
ered  a  matter  of  the  first  importance  to  be  able  to  say, 
of  the  subject  of  a  memoir,  that  his  ancestors  came 
over  with  the  Conqueror;  as  if  it  should  afford  those 
calling  themselves  Anglo-Saxon  Englishmen  any  satis 
faction  to  be  able  to  carry  back  their  lineage  to  the 
conquerors  of  Harold.  With  us  in  America,  it  is  quite 
the  fashion  to  be  able  to  say,  that  such  an  one's  ances 
tors  came  to  these  shores  in  the  Mayflower ;  as  if  there 
were  any  merit  in  such  parentage  beyond  that  which  can 
be  claimed  at  any  time,  by  those  descended  from  any 
other  immigrants  seeking  to  establish,  in  a  new  home, 
modes  of  Christian  worship  more  in  accordance  with 
their  notions  of  fitness  than  the  prevailing  ones  whence 
they  came ;  —  or  that  they  came  here  in  the  train  of 
Lord  Baltimore,  a  nobleman  of  courtly  lineage  and  fame, 
and  of  great  renown  also  as  that  Catholic  ruler  who 
allowed,  at  that  day,  in  his  most  enlightened  liberality, 
perfect  liberty  of  conscience  to  the  settlers  upon  a  do 
main  as  fair  as  that  within  the  boundaries  given  to 


IO  MEMOIR    OF 

him  and  his  descendants,  by  his  royal  sovereign; — 
or  that  they  represent  the  posterity  of  the  stout 
Dutch  burghers  who  laid  the  foundations  of  New 
York,  and  settled  the  fine  territory  of  the  New  Neth 
erlands,  from  the  ocean,  along  the  magnificent  river 
of  Hudson,  to  many  miles  beyond  the  mouth  of  its 
tributary,  the  Mohawk.  While  these  different  stocks 
were  being  planted,  in  the  course  of  the  diffusion  of 
European  population  over  America,  another  set  of  emi 
grants  came  to  her  shores  —  a  body  of  men  and 
women  whose  high  moral  worth,  and  peaceable  spirit, 
won  for  them,  at  once,  from  the  savage  possessors  of 
the  country,  where  they  disembarked,  their  confidence 
and  affection.  These  people  brought  neither  arms  in 
their  hands,  nor  the  passion  to  use  them  if  they  had 
been  there,  disdaining,  as  they  did,  all  success  that 
could  only  be  secured  by  the  use  of  weapons  of  war, 
and  preferring  to  rely  rather  upon  the  mild  influences 
of  that  religion  which  proclaimed  peace  and  good  will 
to  all  men,  barbarians  as  well  as  civilized.  While 
their  courage  was  not  that  displayed  by  the  warrior, 
or  the  man  of  strife,  they  had  yet,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  that  rarer  quality  of  bravery  which  is  shown 
by  doing  right  according  to  God's  law,  in  the  face  of 
all  men.  These  were  the  Quakers,  the  cotemporaries 
of  William  Penn,  and  his  companions,  rather  than  fol 
lowers,  in  his  journey  towards  the  sunset  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  domains  granted  to  him  by  his  sov 
ereign,  Charles  II.,  and  the  Duke  of  York,  Charles's 
brpther,  by  their  respective  charters  of  alienation. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  H 

Among  those  who  shared  the  voyage  of  Penn  and 
concluded  to  cast  his  fortunes  in  the  new  common 
wealth  ceded  to  his  friend,  was  Joshua  Clayton,  who 
at  his  death  left  sons,  John  and  Joshua.  John  also 
left  two  sons  to  survive  him,  James  and  John.  James's 
posterity  was  five  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  Dr. 
Joshua  Clayton,  President  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  at 
the  close  of  her  first  period  of  sovereignty  under  the 
constitution  of  August,  1776,  and  her  first  Governor 
under  that  of  1789;  he  was  the  father  of  Thomas 
Clayton,  who  represented  this  State  with  great  credit, 
at  different  periods,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and 
shone  with  exceeding  lustre  as  an  able  and  upright 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  from  1828, 
when  he  took  his  seat  there,  until  January,  1837,  when 
he  resigned  his  office,  under  the  new  Constitution,  as 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  to  accept  a  Senatorship  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States.  The  youngest  of  these 
five  children  of  James  Clayton  w'as  originally  named 
George,  but  his  brother  James  dying  shortly  after  his 
father,  and  when  George  was  a  mere  infant,  the  name 
thus  lost  was  restored  by  being  conferred  upon  George, 
who  became  James.  This  James  was  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  memoir.  His  mother  was  Sarah  Middle- 
ton,  of  Virginia  ancestry,  whose  maiden  name  was  be 
stowed  upon  this  her  son,  and  he  was  christened  John 
Middleton  Clayton.  John  Clayton,  a  brother  of  Joshua, 
the  father  of  Thomas,  and  James  the  father  of  John  M., 
was  a  distinguished  character,  having  been  an  active 
political  personage  in  the  colonial  and  later  times ; 


12 


MEMOIR    OF 


Judge  in  Admiralty  under  the  Constitution  of  1776; 
Sheriff  of  Kent  at  the  period  of  change  to  the  new 
form,  and  Associate  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  until  his  death. 

James  Clayton  (formerly  George),  was  born  on  the 
24th  day  of  March,  1761,  married  to  Miss  Middle- 
ton  on  the  1 8th  of  August,  1791,  and  died  on  the 
24th  day  of  November,  1820,  leaving  his  wife  (who 
died  on  the  23d  of  June,  1829,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
five  years,  three  months,  and  fifteen  days),  and  six 
children,  to  survive  him ;  Lydia,  who  married  John 
Kellum,  of  Accomac  county,  Virginia;  John  M.  ; 
Harriet,  who  became  the  wife  of  Walter  Douglass, 
who  died  in  1824,  and  afterwards  of  Henry  W.  Peter 
son,  since  deceased ;  Elizabeth,  who  died  unmarried ; 
Mary  Anne,  who  was  the  wife  of  George  T.  Fisher, 
who  survived  her  and  died  in  1831  ;  and  James  H. 
M.  Clayton,  who  died  unmarried  in  1837.  These 
sisters  and  this  brother  of  John  M.  Clayton  all  died 
in  his  lifetime,  only  one  of  them,  Harriet,  having  left 
any  issue  now  alive,  and  but  one  other  of  them, 
Mary  Anne,  ever  having  had  any  issue. 

John  M.  Clayton  was  born  at  Dagsborough,  in  the 
county  of  Sussex,  in  a  house  standing,  until  within 
a  few  years,  upon  an  ample  lot  of  ground  lately 
owned  by  Mr.  John  Hazzard,  who  was  the  proprietor 
of  a  hotel,  which  he  kept  himself,  at  the  south  end 
of  it.  The  parents  of  young  Clayton  must  have  been 
uncommon  persons.  They  were  both  well-formed,  and 
the  husband  large  like  the  rest  of  the  old  Clayton 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^ 

stock.  I  have  seen  them  in  my  childhood  —  his 
mother  very  often  ;  his  father  a  few  times.  He  was 
truly  a  stalwart  man,  with  an  imposing  appearance, 
and  she  of  the  full  .feminine  size,  and  with  features 
of  striking  and  distinguished  fashion.  Added  to  all 
the  essential  qualities  for  a  wife  and  mother  of  a 
very  talented  family,  she  possessed  great  refinement 
of  manner  in  society,  and  also  a  rare  fluency  of 
speech,  which  she  transmitted  to  all  her  children  — 
there  not  having  been  one  of  them  who  was  not 
remarkable  for  fine  powers  of  conversation.  James 
Clayton  shone  in  society  for  his  breadth  of  informa 
tion  and  depth  and  strength  of  mind,  and  also  for  t 
those  qualities  of  the  heart  that  endear  men  to  each 
other  —  generosity,  benevolence,  sympathy  constantly 
expressed.  And  then  he  was  so  manly,  so  above  any 
of  the  petty  feelings  or  purposes  that  mar  the  char 
acters  of  men.  This  is  the  testimony  of  his  acquaint 
ances,  as  I  have  heard  it  from  the  mouths  of  some 
of  them.  He  was  a  great  reader,  as  his  son  has 
told  me  —  his  favorite  authors  being  the  English 
classics,  so  called  to  distinguish  them  from  their  less 
successful  and  accomplished  rivals  in  the  literary 
field  ;  and  he  has  frequently  spoken  to  me  about  his 
father's  passionate  fondness  for  Shakespeare's  plays, 
and  of  his  remarkable  memory  of  their  text.  In 
fact,  he  has  said  to  me  more  than  once,  that  his 
father  was  the  best  Shakespearian  he  had  ever  known. 
He  was  very  fond,  was  this  excellent  man,  of  the 
society  of  his  cherished  friends ;  and  upon  occasions 


,A  MEMOIR    OF 

*4 

of  their  re-union,  such  as  village  life  affords,  would 
give  himself  much  effort  to  make  all  happy  around 
him. 

As  soon  as  young  John  was  qualified  by  age  to 
leave  home  for  school,  he  was  sent  to  Berlin,  in  Wor 
cester  county,  Maryland,  to  attend  upon  an  academy 
there ;  but  the  quarters  where  he  was  put  to  board 
proving  not  suited  to  his  liking  on  account  of  a 
deficiency  in  the  quantity  of  food  given  the  boarders, 
he  and  another  boy,  James  Davis  (a.  son  of  Isaac 
Davis,  afterwards  Judge  Davis  of  the  old  Supreme 
Court),  ran  away,  and  walked  all  the  way  to  Milford, 
where  their  respective  parents  then  resided  —  James 
Clayton  having  removed  to  Kent  whilst  his  son  was 
at  Berlin.  He  was  next  sent  to  Lewes,  where  he 
remained  for  some  time,  boarding  with  a  kind, 
motherly,  old  lady,  who  treated  him  like  a  son. 
From  thence  he  was  brought  to  Milford  for  instruction 
—  the  schools  there  having  greatly  improved,  and  here 
he  remained  until  the  24th  of  July,  1811,  when  at  the 
time,  precisely  of  his  arrival  of  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
he  entered  Yale  College,  and  thence  graduated  on  the 
1 2th  day  of  September,  1815,  with  the  highest  honors 
of  his  class.  I  have  heard  him  often  speak  of  his 
college  days  whilst  I  studied  in  his  office ;  and  he 
enjoyed,  with  a  zest  impossible  to  describe,  the  remi 
niscences  his  conversations  with  me  evoked.  He  was 
full  of  fun  of  all  the  kinds  enjoyed  by  college  boys  ; 
and  being,  at  a  very  early  age,  a  good  performer  on 
the  violin,  was  sought  after  by  the  students,  and  was 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  lt> 

friends  with  all  of  them  whose  society  he  desired  to 
cultivate.  But  of  all  his  companions  none  stood  so 
high  in  his  affections  as  a  little  fellow,  a  year  behind 
him  in  age  and  studentship,  George  McClellan  of 
Philadelphia,  afterwards  the  famous  surge'on,  and  the 
father  of  the  present  Governor  of  New  Jersey.  I 
have  seen  the  two  together  whilst  Clayton  lived  at  New 
Castle ;  and  it  was  entertaining,  to  a  degree  I  cannot 
give  you  any  adequate  idea  of,  to  be  present  when 
these  two  brilliant  men,  greatly  distinguished  in  their 
respective  careers,  forgot  all  their  rank  and  conse 
quence  in  what  a  great  poet  calls  a  revivescence  of 
their  college  life  —  those  school  days  which  Thackeray, 
speaking  from  his  affectionate  and  tender  heart,  calls 
"  the  happy,  the  bright,  the  unforgotten."  If  you  could 
have  heard  them  without  seeing  them,  or  knowing 
who  they  were,  you  would  have  thought  two  school 
fellows  had  met  a  year  after  their  graduation  at 
college  And  yet  they  were  both  men  of  matured 
years  and  honors,  upon  whom  the  public  had  given 
judgment  as  men  of  the  highest  abilities  in  their  several 
walks  in  life. 

Upon  his  graduation  young  Clayton  returned  home 
for  relaxation,  having  been  hard  at  work  in  college 
for  four  years,  and  never  having  given  himself  enough 
vacation  to  return  to  his  family.  Coming  back  to 
Delaware  at  the  close  of  1815,. and  intending,  as  his 
father  did,  that  he  should  be  a  lawyer,  he  was,  some 
time  not  long  afterwards,  entered  in  the  office  of  his 
cousin  Thomas  Clayton,  and  studied  under  him  until 


!g  MEMOIR    OF 

March,  1817,  when  he  returned  to  New  England  to 
attend  the  then  famous  law  school  at  Litchfield,  Con 
necticut,  where  he  remained  for  a  year  and  eight 
months,  studying,  as  I  have  heard  him  say,  sixteen 
hours  a  day.  Upon  leaving  there  he  finished  his 
course  in  Kent,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Georgetown,  in  Sussex,  at  the  October  term,  1819,  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  when  he  was  but  a  little 
over  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  selected  Kent  as 
the  county  in  which  he  should  begin  his  professional 
life,  and  took  an  office  near  the  court-house,  in 
Dover,  in  the  eastern  end  of  what  is  now  the  dwelling 
of  the  Hon.  John  A.  Nicholson. 

Now  commenced  a  career  at  the  bar  which  up  to 
that  time  had  never  been  paralleled  in  this  State,  nor 
has  it  been  equaled  since.  Clayton  at  once  rose  to  a 
very  high  rank  as  a  lawyer.  Nor  is  this  wonderful 
when  you  consider  the  qualities  for  success  the  young 
man  had.  Treating  as  one  of  them  personal  appear 
ance,  it  must  be  admitted  that  here  nature  had  given 
him  all  that  could  be  desired  —  a  tall,  commanding, 
thoroughly  well-developed  figure,  six  feet  one  and  a 
half  inches  high,  with  a  handsome  countenance  moulded 
in  the  style  befitting  great  characters,  and  with  an  air 
of  dignity,  softened  by  that  indefinable  expression  of 
the  human  face  that  shows  a  gentle  heart  in  the 
breast.  The  proportions  of  his  figure  were  correct 
also.  This  fine  stalwart  frame  was  surmounted  by  a 
head  of  ample  size,  measuring  just  twenty-four  inches 
in  circumference.  Other  portions  were  in  like  accord 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l^ 

with  symmetry.  And  then,  without  the  least  trace  of 
foppishness,  or  particularity  about  dress,  he  yet  never 
appeared  in  any  company,  at  any  time,  arrayed  other 
wise  than  as  became  gentlemen  of  his  day,  when  such 
as  he  were  careful  to  dress  themselves  as  comported  with 
their  rank  and  station  in  life.  Such  was  the  figure 
of  this  young  aspirant  for  professional  success,  when  he 
appeared  at  the  bar  of  Kent.  His  other  qualifications 
were,  a  fine  collegiate  education  at  a  famous  seat  of 
learning ;  an  unusual  preparation,  by  study  and  train 
ing,  for  the  bar ;  extensive  historical  and  literary  in 
formation  ;  remarkable  powers  of  analysis  and  of  illus 
tration  ;  quickness  of  perception,  amounting  almost  to 
intuition ;  ardor  and  industry  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
client's  business ;  a  grace,  and  at  the  same  time  force 
and  power,  of  manner;  and  ease  and  fluency  of  utter 
ance.  All  these  combined  gave  him,  in  the  very  outset, 
advantages  which  he  speedily  and  thoroughly  turned 
to  the  best  account  for  himself.  Superadded  to  the 
whole  was  an  unaffected  and  winning  cordiality  of 
recognition  and  intercourse  which  completely  captivated 
all  who  came  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance. 
Thus  equipped  by  nature,  and  by  a  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  the  principles  of  his  great  profession,  and 
endowed  also  with  a  memory  which  never  forget  any 
thing  worth  remembering,  his  attractions  as  a  lawyer 
were  very  great ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  he  entered,  almost  as  soon  as  he  had  the  right 
to  open  his  mouth  in  court,  upon  a  business  at  first 
remunerative,  but  which  before  long  attained  the  fullest 


18 


MEMOIR    OF 


measure  of  abundance  and  profit  at  that  day.  In  addi 
tion  to  his  fine  legal  knowledge,  he  early  developed 
extraordinary  power  as  an  advocate.  Upon  him  fell 
(what  I  may  call)  the  most  desperate  cases  at  the 
civil  and  criminal  bars ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say,  that 
when  it  was  possible  for  any  lawyer  to  win  a  case, 
as  the  slang  of  that  time  was,  or  to  succeed,  as  the 
phrase  now  is,  he  was  always  the  victor-  in  the  contest. 
It  seemed  only  necessary  for  success  that  he  should 
be  employed  —  his  power  over  juries  being  so  irresist 
ible.  I  do  not,  in  any  sense,  mean  to  say  that  he 
controlled  juries  (the  judgment  of  twelve  honest,  intelli 
gent  men  is  not  to  be  controlled  in  this  State,  at 
least,  by  any  man,  how  great  soever  his  influence),  but 
I  do  mean  to  say  that  he  had  a  way  of  presenting 
to  the  jury  the  facts  of  his  own  side  and  also  of  the 
other  (for  if  these  had  not  been  laid  before  the  jury 
in  their  full  strength,  he  supplemented  the  deficiency 
by  his  candor),  that  drew  them  in  spite  of  their  teeth 
(I  feel  that  I  may  say),  or  of  their  tenacity  of  opinion, 
to  adopt  the  argument  his  fertile  mind  presented  them 
with,  and  also  the  conclusion  such  argument  required. 
This  was  entirely  natural.  Here  was  a  man  of  extra 
ordinary  powers  in  all  respects  —  not  the  least  of 
which,  by  any  means,  was  that  of  looking  into  the 
very  thoughts  and  purposes  of  men.  It  was  just  such 
a  lawyer,  possessed  of  such  uncommon  powers,  that 
every  plaintiff  and  defendant  wanted.  Every  plaintiff, 
or  defendant,  in  a  lawsuit,  wants  a  lawyer  on  his  side, 
who  combines  two  qualities  —  one  that  of  being  well 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  JQ 

versed  in  the  law,  and  the  other  that  of  being  a  good 
advocate  of  the  interest  of  his  client.  I  have  in  my 
mind,  now,  some  desperate  cases  of  crime,  where,  before 
the  trial,  conviction  was  considered  only  to  await  the 
end  of  it,  and  yet  the  felon  escaped,  or  with  a  verdict 
greatly  modified  from  the  demand  of  the  prosecution ; 
and  this,  although  the  court  sometimes  seemed  to  feel 
itself  compelled,  by  way  of  resistance  to  what  appeared 
to  it  to  be  too  great  an  influence  with  the  panel,  to 
stigmatize  the  offence  in  very  strong  terms.  Nor  was 
he,  by  any  means,  less  fortunate  in  the  trial  of  civil 
cases.  He  had  the  prestige  of  success,  although  his 
competitors  at  the  Kent  bar  were,  at  that  time,  no 
less  celebrated  men  than  Henry  M.  Ridgely,  Thomas 
Clayton,  and  Willard  Hall.  With  such  antagonists  he 
contended  ;  and,  for  a  young  man,  but  lately  entered 
upon  a  stage,  where  they  maintained  the  highest  stand 
ing,  it  can  with  truth  be  said  that  he  achieved  a 
success,  as  their  competitor,  which  he  could  not  have 
done,  had  he  not  possessed  abilities  of  the  very  first 
order.  This  career  increased  in  brilliancy  until  he  at 
tained  a  fame,  throughout  the  State,  which,  long  before 
he  entered  upon  another  and  no  less  distinguished 
course  in  life,  called  for  his  services  -in  the  other 
counties  in  nearly  all  the  most  important  cases  that 
arose  therein  —  though  the  practice  of  going  the  circuit 
had  been,  well  nigh,  abandoned  by  the  leading  lawyers, 
when  he  came  to  the  bar. 

The  death  of  his  father  in   1820,  though  a  very  trying 
event   in   the   life  of    his    son,  for     he    had    the   greatest 


2O  MEMOIR    OF 

respect  and  affection  for  him,  was  probably  an  impor 
tant  element  in  his  rise  to  distinction.  He  was  not 
naturally  industrious,  in  the  common  sense  of  the 
term,  but  was  rather  inclined  to  ease  —  though  his 
college  and  law  student  life  would  seem  to  show  the 
contrary  —  and  required  an  incentive  to  work.  Such 
incentive  death  gave  him  (his  father's  fortunes  having 
been  overwhelmed  by  the  great  disasters  that  befel 
the  country  about  1820)  in  the  necessity  of  providing 
for  the  support  of  a  mother,  two  sisters,  and  a  brother, 
with  the  latter  to  educate.  This  was  just  the  stimulus 
such  an  one  required ;  and  it  was  this  apparent 
calamity  that  proved,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  of  the 
greatest  benefit  to  him.  Here  was  a  young  man,  of 
splendid  abilities,  natural  and  acquired,  with  habits  of 
study  that  made  it  easy  enough  to  work,  but  still 
who  was  not  required  to  make  any  great  effort  for 
success.  The  necessity,  however,  of  providing  for  his 
mother  and  her  orphan  children  inspired  him ;  and 
day  and  night,  continually,  he  wrought  for  them,  until 
he  was  secure  from  all  risk  of  being  embarrassed  any 
longer.  He  toiled  at  his  profession,  in  every  branch 
of  it,  legal  and  equitable,  civil  and  criminal,  enjoying 
nothing  else  but  the  society  of  his  friends  and  the 
weekly  visits  he  paid  the  loved  ones  at  Milford, 
whither  he  went  every  Saturday  afternoon,  walking 
(when  the  weather  would  permit)  sixteen  miles  of  the 
distance  to  the  home  of  his  brother-in  law  and  friend 
Walter  Douglass,  who  would  forward  him  to  Milford, 
where  he  would  cheer  the  hearts  of  all  by  his  pres- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  21 

ence,  affectionate  manners,  and  bestowal  of  the  surplus 
earnings  of  the  week,  large  or  small.  I  have  often 
heard  him  speak  of  those  days,  and  relate  the  infinite 
delight  it  gave  his  heart  to  convey  so  much  pleasure 
by  these  visits. 

When  young  Clayton  had  been  but  three  years  at 
the  bar,  but  after  he  had  acquired  enough  by  the  law 
not  only  to  enable  him  to  take  care  of  those  left 
to  him,  but  of  a  wife  as  well,  and  not  until  he  could 
offer  himself  to  her  with  entire  pecuniary  independence 
also,  he  proposed  for  the  hand  of  a  lady  and  heiress, 
Miss  Sally  Ann  Fisher,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  Fisher, 
who  was  a  physician  of  distinction  and  general  intelli 
gence,  at  Camden,  in  Kent,  and  whose  first  wife,  the 
mother  of  Mrs.  Clayton,  was  a  McClymont,  of  a  large 
Presbyterian  family,  seated  near  Dover.  On  the  I2th 
of  September,  1822,  the  young  couple  were  married  at 
Middletown,  in  New  Castle  county,  by  the  Reverend 
(afterwards  Dr.)  Samuel  Brinckle,  now  deceased,  who 
was  chosen  for  the  ceremony  because  he  was  the 
brother  of  Joshua  G.  Brinckle,  a  fellow-practitioner  with 
young  Clayton,  and  whom  he  fondly  loved.  The  newly 
made  husband  and  wife,  a  few  months  after  their 
marriage,  took  the  dwelling  and  office  of  Henry  M. 
Ridgely,  upon  the  green  in  Dover  (he  having  retired 
temporarily  to  the  country) ;  but  in  the  interval,  be 
tween  the  marriage  and  the  occupancy  of  the  Ridgely 
property,  they  resided  in  her  own  house  in  Carnden, 
to  and  from  which  place  he  walked  every  day,  giving 
himself  six  miles  exercise,  to  refresh  him  after  the 


22 


MEMOIR   OP 


labors  of  one  day,  and  recruit  him  for  those  of 
another.  In  this  Dover  residence  were  born  unto  them 
two  sons ;  and  there  occurred  that  fatal  calamity,  the 
shadow  of  which  never  passed  from  his  life,  nor  was 
its  presence  ever  entirely  unfelt.  His  love  for  his  wife 
was  the  greatest  passion  that  ever  influenced  him. 
While  to  others  she  was  a  lovely  woman,  of  most 
affectionate  heart,  and  with  just  enough  of  the  Quaker, 
in  the  blood  she  had  inherited  from  her  father,  to  give 
to  all  her  actions,  expressions,  and  emotions,  that  deli 
cate  softness,  so  near  akin  to  shyness,  which  charac 
terizes  the  daughters  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  she 
yet  possessed  for  him  something  more  than  all  this ; 
something  that  made  him,  by  no  means  given  to  emo 
tions,  worship  her  almost  as  an  idol.  On  the  iSth 
day  of  February,  1825,  she  died  in  his  arms,  leaving 
him  with  two  boys,  the  youngest  but  a  few  days  old. 
Life,  from  thenceforth,  seemed  to  have,  for  him,  no 
attractions ;  but  for  the  necessity  of  taking  care  of 
those  who  had  been  committed  to  him  before,  and  the 
children  his  wife  had  given  him,  he  would  have  sunk, 
utterly,  under  the  load  of  his  affliction.  The  duties  of 
life,  however,  pressed  upon  the  heart  of  the  brave  man, 
and  exacted  from  him  that  he  should  not  give  himself 
up  to  grief  absolutely,  but  should  devote  himself,  as 
he  best  could,  to  the  service  of  those  dependent 
upon  him.  With  this  spur  he  started  again  in  the 
race  and  work  of  life ;  and  it  was  a  frequent  ex 
pression  with  him,  in  recurring  to  that  sorrowful 
time,  that  nothing  but  work  in  his  profession  saved 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2$ 

him.  And  work  he  did,  like  a  hero.  It  was  his 
only  salvation.  There  was  nothing  for  him  but  the 
abstraction  of  thought  from  grief,  that  work  —  hard, 
engrossing,  honorable  labor  —  can  give.  But,  to  that 
love  for  his  young  wife,  he  remained  perfectly,  abso 
lutely  true,  throughout  the  whole  of  his  subsequent 
life  ;  and  never,  under  any  circumstances,  allowed  him 
self  to  think  of  himself  otherwise  than  as  her  lover. 
There  came  a  time,  whilst  he  was  still  young,  when 
he  no  longer  had  any  of  the  family  of  his  father 
about  him  —  one  of  the  orphan  sisters  having  married, 
another  died,  and  then  his  mother,  and  finally  his 
brother  —  and  he  had  every  inducement,  which  ripe 
manhood  and  the  importunity  of  friends  could  offer 
him,  to  take  a  wife;  but  he  repelled,  sometimes 
sternly,  and  always  firmly,  all  advice  to  marry  again. 
He  would  not  think  of  it,  though  almost  absolutely 
alone,  having  none  about  him  but  his  two  small  chil 
dren,  and  one  young  girl,  his  niece,  and  her  brother, 
younger  than  herself,  the  children  of  Walter  Douglass. 
He  did  the  best  he  could  with  and  for  them ;  he 
was  to  them  father,  mother,  and  everything  else  that 
was  loving.  Such  was  the  situation  of  Mr.  Clayton 
(except  that  his  mother  outlived  that  event  a  few 
months),  when  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  Before  entering  upon  a  consideration 
of  his  career  as  a  public  man,  or  politician  and  states 
man,  I  will  say  more  of  his  professional  life. 

There  cannot  be  any  question  that  John  M.  Clayton 
was   a   lawyer  of  the    very  first   grade    in   every   branch 


2A  MEMOIR    OF 

of  learning,  whether  legal  or  equitable,  civil  or  criminal. 
He  came  to  the  bar  prepared  by  a  course  of  unre 
mitting  study  of  all  the  old  authors,  and  the  modern 
text  writers  down  to  his  time.  In  the  days  of  his 
pupilage  for  his  profession,  the  requirements  for  admis 
sion  to  the  bar  were  not  only  a  full  course  of  read 
ing,  including  always  Coke  upon  Littleton,  Plowden, 
Wood's  Institutes,  Doctor  and  Student,  and  other  re 
condite  works  relating  to  matters  of  civil  concern,  but 
also  Hale  and  Hawkins  in  the  criminal  list  of  authors, 
and  such  works  upon  equity  as  had  then  been  writ 
ten.  Besides,  as  the  custom  of  creating  entails,  and 
strict  settlements,  was  still  very  much  in  vogue  in 
Delaware,  and  had  been  from  her  settlement  by  the 
English  under  Penn,  it  was  then  essentially  requisite 
that  a  lawyer  should  be  a  master  of  all  the  learning 
of  such,  and  of  that  large  class  of  interests  which  then, 
more  than  now,  arose  out  of  the  provisions  of  the 
many  wills  written  in  conformity  with  the  practice  at 
home  which  the  settlers  imported  here.  Some  of  this 
latter  was  what  is  called  black  letter ;  it  was  all  ab 
struse,  and  not  to  be  acquired  fully  but  by  one  en- 

• 

dowcd  by  nature  with  a  strong  mind,  improved  by 
ample  learning,  classical  and  otherwise.  I  feel  that  I 
hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  Mr  Clayton  had  mas 
tered  all  this  learning;  that  he  was  familiar  with  what 
is  called  nisi  prius  law  also ;  that  he  had  a  special 
aptitude  for  professional  practice;  and  if  there  can  be 
a  union  in  any  one  man  of  all  that  is  necessary  to 
make  a  great  lawyer,  it  existed  in  him.  In  addition 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  35 

to  all  this,  he  was.  a  conscientious  lawyer  in  every 
sense.  He  was  faithful  to  the  court,  whom  he  en 
lightened  by  his  learning,  and  true  to  his  client.  All 
his  addresses  to  the  court  were  conceived  in  a  spirit 
of  respect  and  confidence ;  he  approached  them  as 
those  set  over  him,  strong  as  he  was  —  regarding 
them  as  the  personal  representatives  of  the  whole 
people,  or  State,  in  the  sovereign  duty  and  prerogative 
of  administering  justice.  All  his  engagements  for  his 
clients  were  faithfully  and  willingly  performed ;  and  how 
successfully,  the  records  of  the  courts  show.  Their 
cause  at  once  became  his  cause  ;  whatever  effort  he 
could  make  for  the  most  influential  of  his  clients,  or 
for  those  to  whom  he  was  bound  by  the  strong  ties 
of  friendship,  was  put -forth  for  the  humblest  also  who 
sought  his  services.  If  those  who  applied  to  him  had 
any  case,  he  quickly  saw  it,  and  as  ardently  espoused 
it.  And  what  the  measure  of  that  ardor  was,  those 
can  testify  who  remember  him  in  court,  and  some 
who  served  under  him  as  students.  Having  be"en  in 
his  office  a  year  beyond  the  usual  term,  from  my  non 
age,  I  know  a  good  deal  of  what  I  am  speaking ;  for 
although  his  public,  political  engagements  as  a  Senator 
then  absorbed  most  of  his  time,  yet  there  was  some 
of  it  given  to  the  law.  I  have  said,  before,  that  he 
was  not,  naturally,  an  industrious  man,  as  that  term  is 
understood ;  but  he  was  a  man  of  tremendous  working 
power,  and  when  required  by  the  necessity  of  the  ser 
vice  he  had  undertaken,  or  that  of  sustaining  his  repu 
tation  or  fame,  he  was  the  most  resolute  and  inex- 


25  MEMOIR    OF 

haustible  laborer  I  ever  saw.  In  fact,  every  faculty  of 
his  nature  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  the  one  purpose 
of  ending  with  success  what  he  undertook.  At  such 
times  he  had  no  more  idea,  apparently,  of  the  likeli 
hood  that  his  assistant  might  suffer  from  fatigue,  than 
if  he  had  known  him  as  a  mere  machine.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  labor,  as  an  amanuensis,  he  required 
me  to  perform  at  the  time  he  was  pleading  to  issue 
the  great  Randel  case,  reported  in  the  first  volume  of 
Harrington.  Most  of  the  pleadings  in  that  case  were 
dictated  by  him,  without  any  book  before  him,  as  he 
walked  the  floor  of  his  private  office ;  and  many  of 
them  were  read,  and  reviewed,  and  altered,  again  and 
again,  before  they  finally  passed  from  his  critical  ex 
amination.  Those  pleadings  speak  for  themselves ;  and 
they  were  inspected,  passed  upon,  and  assailed,  in  one 
form  or  another,  by  as  able  men  in  the  law  as  could 
be  found  at  our  bar,  or  outside  of  it,  to  perform  that 
work,  and  finally  settled  by  a  bench  than  which  no 
State  had  then  a  superior.  Those  pleadings  stand  as 
an  imperishable  monument  of  the  industry  and  science 
of  Clayton  —  for  no  other  man  had  anything  to  do 
with  their  preparation.  This  case  is  remarkable  for 
another  thing  —  that  up  to  the  time  when  the  verdict 
was  given  for  his  client,  no  finding  of  such  magnitude, 
for  merely  unliquidated  damages,  had  ever  been  ren 
dered  in  the  United  States.  As  in  the  Randel  case, 
so  in  other  cases.  His  whole  soul  was,  as  it  were, 
given  up  to  them,  where  there  was  to  be  contest.  He 
would  think,  or  talk,  of  nothing  else;  you  must  listen 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2>j 

to  him  about  his  case,  or  question,  or  leave  him.  It 
made  no  difference  who  approached  him,  unless 
their  own  business  required  to  be  attended  to  in  some 
way,  he  would  talk  of  the  matter  then  in  hand. 
Whether  this  was  a  natural  relief  for  an  "  o'erfraught" 
mind,  or  that  he  sought  to  extract  opinions  from  others 
to  fortify  or  modify  his  own,  I  know  not ;  but  his 
cases  engrossed  him  to  the  displacement  of  all  other 
subjects,  and  discourse  about  them  was  as  necessary, 
apparently,  to  him,  as  the  nourishment  of  food.  And 
yet  this  was  not  true  at  all  times,  for  when  his  mental 
travail  over  a  case  had  ended  by  his  thoughts  being 
properly  matured  about  it,  he  gave  no  more  attention 
to  it  out  of  the  court-house  ;  and  hence,  he  sometimes 
appeared  to  be  careless  or  indifferent,  when  the  contrary 
was  to  be  expected.  He  had,  however,  worked  the  matter 
out  in  his  thoughts,  and  there  was  nothing  more  to  do 
before  the  trial. 

The  influence  of  Mr.  Clayton  with  juries,  to  which 
I  have  referred,  was  very  extraordinary.  Certainly  no 
man  this  State  has  ever  produced  was  his  equal  with 
a  jury,  common  or  special ;  and  the  first  living  man 
among  us,*  although  his  fine  intellect  is  now  clouded 
by  age,  said  to  me,  years  ago,  when  contemplating  his 
character  as  a  public  man  and  jurist,  that  he  did  not 
believe  a  jury  lawyer  superior  to  Clayton  had  ever  lived 
in  this  country.  His  powers  were,  certainly,  extraor 
dinary,  and  consisted  as  well  in  the  examination  of 
witnesses  as  in  the  discussion  of  the  facts  proved.  • 

*  James  A.  Bayard,  since  deceased. 


2g  MEMOIR   OF 

Whatever  a  witness  knew  on  his  client's  side,  he  was 
sure  to  bring  out,  and  with  the  best  effect,  framing 
his  questions  ,  so  as  to  refresh  his  memory  where  it 
was  weak,  as  also  to  furnish  him,  when  needed,  with 
language  that  would  best  convey  his  thoughts.  His 
witnesses  were  never  afraid  of  him,  as  some  men's 
are,  his  manner  being  so  reassuring;  and  he  never 
failed  to  extract  from  them,  sooner  or  later,  in  his 
examination,  all  they  knew.  When  he  had  done  with 
them,  the  cross-examination  that  followed  rarely  pro 
duced  any  contradiction,  or  discrepant  statement  —  so 
well  had  he,  by  his  consummate  art  of  preparing  the 
witness  for  it,  shielded  him  from  assaults  by  the 
opposite  counsel.  A  bad  examination  in  chief  lays  a 
witness  sadly  open  to  the  assaults  and  artifices  of  the 
adverse  counsel  ;  but  he  never  made  one :  when  he 
handed  his  witness  over  to  his  adversary,  that  witness 
not  only  had  his  story  perfectly  in  memory,  so  that  no 
tripping  was  possible ;  but  he  had  kept  him,  if  a  timid 
man,  so  long  engaged,  as  to  give  him  an  assurance 
that  enabled  him  to  resist  all  attempts  afterwards  to 
confuse  him.  Such  a  lawyer  is  of  great  service  to 
inexperienced  witnesses — who,  often,  make  a  bad  figure, 
from  being  in  the  hands,  at  first,  of  counsel  not  having 
the  address  and  art  necessary  for  their  due  preparation 
to  meet  what  sometimes  degenerates  into  brow-beating 
upon  the  cross-examination.  When,  however,  the  duty 
of  taking  in  hand  an  opposite  witness,  and  sifting  his 
testimony  in  chief,  came  to  him,  it  was  a  treat  to  see 
him  perform  his  work ;  and  woe  be  unto  that  witness 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2Q 

if  he  had  told  a  falsehood,  misstated  a  fact,  or  if  he 
sought  to  conceal  one  important  to  be  brought  out. 
There  was  no  escaping  his  efforts  to  get  at  the  true 
facts.  A  witness  might  be  ever  so  smart,  and  subtle, 
or  cunning  with  his  answers,  sly  in  his  suggestions, 
or  bold  in  his  assertions  ;  sooner  or  later  he  was  com 
pelled  to  disclose  what  he  knew,  and  qualify  what  he 
he  had  said  that  was  calculated,  if  unexplained,  to 
mislead  the  minds  of  the  jury.  This  was  accomplished, 
partly  by  his  general  manner,  partly  by  the  communi 
cation  in  which  he  put  himself  with  the  witness,  by 
his  special  effort  for  the  occasion,  and  greatly  to  the 
discovery  a  witness  soon  made,  that  there  was  no  use 
in  trying  to  escape  him.  The  ordinary  arts  of  con 
fusing,  by  rapid  and  irrelevant  questions,  were  no  part 
of  his  enginery :  his  was  a  treatment  better  calculated 
to  answer  his  purpose,  and  not  excite  the  sympathies 
of  the  jury  for  the  victim's  distress.  When  an  unfair 
witness  left  the  stand,  he  knew  that  he  had  been 
drained  thoroughly  of  the  real  truth,  but  felt  no  resent 
ment  against  him  who  had  found  out  everything. 
There  were,  however,  times  when  a  falsifier,  or  prevari 
cator,  had  to  be  dealt  with  ;  and  then  he  subjected  such 
an  one  to  a  terrible  ordeal.  It  was  then  a  case  which 
required  something  more  than  gentle  treatment ;  it 
demanded  an  earnest,  vigorous,  unyielding  contest  for 
the  victory,  and  such  was  made.  There  was  no  use  in 
fighting  him  with  boldness,  or  endeavoring  to  elude  him 
by  ingenious  artifice  of  answer :  the  truth  had  to  be 

spoken,    or    the     witness     passed    from   the   battle   with 

4 


jo  MEMOIR    OF 

his  statements  so  battered  by  the  blows  the  cross- 
examination  had  inflicted  upon  them,  that  they  had 
no  weight  with  the  jury.  I  have  been  witness,  as 
perhaps  some  present  have  also,  to  many  of  those 
encounters  between  this  lawyer  and  hostile  witnesses, 
and  they  always  resulted  in  his  triumph. 

When  these  cases  before  juries  came  to  be  pre 
sented  by  counsel  in  their  addresses,  the  court-room 
was  sure  to  be  filled,  for  everybody  knew  there  would 
be  a  great  treat  for  them  in  listening  to  the  trial. 
The  greater  the  case,  and  the  more  prominent  his 
opponents  were,  the  greater  the  interest ;  for  then  his 
superior  powers  would  be  evoked.  When  he  was  in 
active  practice,  but  towards  the  close  of  it,  there  were 
other  strong  men  at  the  bar  than  those  of  whom  I 
have  spoken.  They  .were  his  juniors,  professionally 
(and  most  of  them  otherwise),  but  still  he  could  by 
no  means  walk  over  the  course  in  his  practice.  It  was 
against  these  men  that  •  he  was  called  upon  to  do 
battle  for  his  clients.  He  had  no  weak  adversaries,  I 
assure  you.  They  were  of  the  best  to  be  found  any 
where,  and  in  the  highest  rank  among  us.  When 
such  were  his  antagonists,  then  the  interest  was  over 
powering.  The  engagement  was  a  real  one  —  not  at 
long  range,  as  senatorial  conflicts  have  become,  since 
the  fashion  arose  of  reading  orations  addressed  virtually 
to  an  audience  outside  the  chamber,  with  only  the 
words  Mr.  President  now  and  then  uttered  to  remind 
you  that  a  debate,  nominally,  is  in  progress ;  but  a 
hand-to-hand  contest,  in  which  every  intellectual  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  3! 

popular  quality  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  twelve 
men  in  the  box.  How  many  of  us  have  enjoyed  such 
scenes  —  if  we  could  not  divest  ourselves,  wholly,  of 
the  partisanship  our  admiration,  respectively,  for  the 
several  individual  actors  excited !  But  while  these 
foemen  of  his  were  fine  speakers,  ready  with  their  re 
sources,  which  were  copious,  and  able  and  earnest,  and 
insinuating  too,  in  their  appeals  to  the  jury,  he,  it 
must  be  confessed,  outshone  them  all.  His  grand  ap 
pearance,  in  all  his  full  stature  and  expression  of  face, 
his  perfect  knowledge  of  every  fact  having  the  least 
relevancy  to  the  case  on  trial,  his  excellent  temper, 
ingenious  appropriation  of  every  unwitting  expression 
of  his  opponent  to  the  interest  of  his  client's  side, 
thus  producing  sometimes,  and  pardonably,  that  irrita 
tion  of  the  opposing  counsel  so  advantageous  sometimes 
to  his  adversary,  his  masterly  array,  or  marshalling,  of  the 
facts  on  his  own  side,  and  placing  them  in  juxtaposition 
with  those  of  the  other  side,  subject  to  all  the  disparag 
ing  comments  upon  their  weakness,  or  want  of  con- 
gruity,  his  candor  would  allow  him  to  make,  and  his 
splendid  voice,  matchless  copiousness,  elegance  and  force 
of  language,  and  perfect  powers  of  illustration,  were 
something  that  all  men  remember  who  witnessed  or 
heard  them,  and  which  as  yet,  in  Delaware,  have  never 
been  equaled.  He  had  hardly  been  at  the  bar  a  year 
before  his  fame  as  a  lawyer  and  advocate  became  well 
known.  I  remember  to  have  heard  him  say  that  at  a 
very  early  period  in  his  professional  life  he  was  employed 
by  the  Abolition  Society  of  Pennsylvania  to  assist  the 


»2  MEMOIR    OF 

then  Attorney-General,  James  Rogers,  himself  of  great 
distinction  at  the  bar,  in  the  prosecution,  in  the  county 
of  Sussex,  of  a  notorious  and  desperate  kidnapper,  Joe 
Johnson.  Others  have  told  me  how  greatly  he  distin 
guished  himself  on  that  occasion;  in  fact  the  case  is 
mentioned  frequently  for  one  particular  feature  of  the 
trial — the  fainting  upon  the  stand  of  a  false  witness  to 
prove  an  alibi,  under  the  cross-examination  the  young 
lawyer  gave  him.  Afterwards  he  occasionally  went  out 
out  of  the  State  to  engage  in  cases  —  two,  notably,  of 
indictments  in  Maryland  for  murder.  From  my  observa 
tion  of  him,  and  of  others,  I  feel  I  can  say,  unquali 
fiedly,  that  he  was  more  familiar  with  the  rules  of  evi 
dence  than  any  one  I  have  ever  known. 

In  January,  1837,  Mr.  Clayton  retired  from  the  bar, 
and  accepted  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  State, 
tendered  to  him  by  his  friend,  Charles  Polk,  Governor 
at  that  time  by  virtue  of  being  Speaker  of  the  Senate, 
upon  the  death  of  Govermor  Bennett.  As  a  judge,  he 
could  not  have  had  a  superior,  in  any  respect  —  when 
all  necessary  to  make  such  is  considered.  I  have 
spoken  of  his  legal  learning.  He  had  that  in  full 
measure.  It  is  the  chief  qualification.  Besides  this,  he 
had  the  quickness  and  acuteness  of  perception  of  which 
I  have  spoken.  He  had  also  great  patience  to  hear, 
an  assuring  manner  to  the  diffident,  entire  freedom 
from  prejudice  or  passion,  and  an  impartiality  remark 
able  in  one  so  fresh  from  bitter  political  contests.  In 
fact,  as  a  judge,  there  could  be  found  no  fault  in  him. 
All  approached  the  trial  of  their  cases  with  a  certainty 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  33 

that  nothing  but  justice  would  be  dealt  out  by  the 
court  where  he  presided ;  and  the  young  practitioner 
was  soon  assured  that  there  were  no  favors  to  be 
awarded  to  any  that  were  not  common  to  all.  It  was 
only  where  he  thought  that  counsel  were  arguing 
beside  their  case,  that  he  ever  interrupted  them  — 
having  no  necessity  to  make  a  display  of  learning, 
which  weak  men  feel  sometimes  in  the  course  of  trials. 
He  resigned  that  place  after  having  held  it  for  a 
little  more  than  three  years,  and  no  writ  of  error 
was  ever  taken  from  any  of  the  court's  decisions  in 
his  time.  During  this  career  a  celebrated  indictment 
was  tried  —  for  blasphemy  —  in  which,  with  great  labor 
and  research,  he  brought  forward  all  the  law  upon  that 
subject.  How  well  he  sustained  his  reputation,  any 
competent  critic  can  discover,  by  reading  that  case  at 
the  end  of  the  second  volume  of  Harrington's  Reports. 
Upon  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Clayton  from  the  bench 
his  professional  life  virtually  .ended,  although  he,  occa 
sionally,  took  part  in  important  cases.  He  was  sought 
after  in  almost  every  one  of  note;  but  only  engaged 
in  those  where  personal  friends  were  interested,  or  some 
other  strong  motive  impelled  him.  Such  a  motive 
influenced  him  to  accept  employment  by  the  Govern 
ment  in  its  controversy  with  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
over  the  title  to  the  Pea  Patch  Island  —  in  which  service 
he  had,  as  an  associate,  the  very  distinguished  lawyer 
to  whom  I  had  reference  before  —  the  Hon.  James  A. 
Bayard  —  for  whose  talents  Mr.  Clayton  felt  the  highest 
admiration,  and  towards  whom,  personally,  he  ever 


34  MEMOIR    OF 

entertained  the  warmest  feelings  of  friendship.  They 
were  strong  friends  —  with  a  love  for  their  State,  a 
pride  in  all  that  concerned  her,  and  a  belief  in  the 
justice  of  the  title  she  had  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  that  knew  no  faltering.  These  two  men  took 
up  the  case  of  the  Government  founded  upon  Dela 
ware's  title,  examined  into  every  phase  and  detail  of 
it,  both  of  law  and  of  fact,  searched  every  book  or 
parchment  that  industry,  or  money,  could  open  to 
them,  and  made  up  and  presented  an  argument,  partly 
out  of  the  mouth  of  one  and  partly  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  other,  which,  for  thoroughness,  ability, 
and  skill  of  arrangement  and  detail,  has  never  been 
surpassed  in  this  country.  It  is  all  reported  by  the 
late  Reporter  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  —  John  William  Wallace  —  and  can  be  found 
among  the  documents  of  Congress. 

This  case  is,  I  believe,  the  last  in  which  Mr. 
Clayton  appeared  as  a  lawyer;  and  he  was  put  upon 
his  mettle  in  the  preparation  and  discussion  of  it, 
one  of  his  competitors  being  George  M.  Bibb,  of 
Kentucky,  who  had  filled  the  office  of  Chancellor  in 
that  State,  that  of  one  of  her  Senators  in  Congress, 
and  was  reputed  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  in  the 
country.  This  famous  case  was  tried  in  Independence 
Hall,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Select  Council 
chamber,  before  the  Hon.  John  Sergeant,  a  distinguished 
gentleman  of  Pennsylvania,  selected  as  an  arbitrator  by 
both  the  contestants,  and  known  everywhere  for  his 
great  legal  learning  and  ability,  and  was  attended  by 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  35 

an  appreciative  audience.  The  discussion  of  the  great 
questions  involved,  was  pronounced  by  the  eminent 
referee  to  have  been  the  ablest  to  which  he  had  ever 
listened.  When  it  closed,  and  the  counsel  to  support 
this  State's  title  left  the  chamber,  there  passed  from 
before  that  referee  two  men  who,  for  power  and  saga 
city  of  intellect,  and  learning  in  their  profession,  had 
no  superiors  in  America.  I  am  aware  this  may  seem 
extravagant  praise  ;  but  it  is  not.  I  am  only  speaking 
of  them  as  you,  who  are  capable  of  judging,  will 
sanction. 

Here  I  might  close  my  history  of  the  career  of  the 
subject  of*  this  memoir  as  a  lawyer — omitting  all  refer- 
rence  to  many  cases  in  the  courts  illustrative  of  some  of 
the  traits  he  possessed,  and  to  many  anecdotes,  of  inter 
est  only  to  professional  men.  But  I  do  not  think  I 
should  omit  to  say  something  that  will  be,  perhaps, 
new  to  them,  about  his  mode  of  studying  cases.  Most 
lawyers,  when  a  question  with  which  they  are  not 
perfectly  familiar  is  presented,  resort  at  once  to  their 
books,  relying  upon  text  writers  to  furnish  them,  di 
rectly  or  indirectly,  with  all  they  need,  to  answer  it. 
His  course  was  the  opposite.  He  studied  the  subject 
first,  in  his  mind ;  and  when  he  had  come  to  a  con 
clusion  upon  the  question  of  it,  he  resorted  to  books 
of  authority  to  support  his  reasoning.  If  they  did  not 
do  it,  he  modified  his  own  views  by  the  authorities. 
He  rarely,  however,  found  them  to  be  at  variance  with 
his  own  previous  judgment;  this  was  owing  to  his 
ample  early  training,  of  which  I  have  spoken.  When 


36  MEMOIR    OF 

the  variance  was  irreconcilable,  his  loyalty  to  the  law 
not  only  demanded  of  him  that  he  should  bow  to 
the  majesty  of  its  authority,  but  that  he  should  be  sure 
he  was  required  to  do  so  at  the  time ;  and  this 
made  necessary  an  examination  of  the  cases,  a  task 
that  evoked  all  his  untiring  powers  of  mind  and  body. 
I  know,  full  well,  what  they  were. 

Such,  as  I  have  briefly,  and  all  too  feebly,  presented 
it,  is  the  history  of  John  M.  Clayton  in  his  legal  life. 
I  ndw  pass  to  the  consideration  of  his  public,  or  non- 
professional  life. 


His   POLITICAL  LII-K. 

At  the  time  when  John  M.  Clayton  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  (October,  1819),  there  can  hardly  be  said 
to  have  been  any  parties  in  the  United  States.  The 
second  election  of  Mr.  Monroe  was  about  taking  place, 
and  that  without  any  opposition  over  the  country. 
There  had  been  a  very  strong  sentiment  of  hostility 
between  the  Federal  and  Democratic  parties,  that  had 
kept  alive  all  the  fierce  passions  that  political  warfare 
excites  ;  but  the  triumph  of  the  national  arms  made 
those  who  favored  the  war  with  Great  Britain  so  strong 
before  the  people,  that  the  Federals  were  fain  to  give 
up  their  opposition  to  the  majority,  with  the  best  grace 
they  could.  Accordingly  they  made  no  organized  op 
position  as  a  national  party  to  the  first  election  of 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  37 

Monroe;  and  at  the  second,  that  of  1820,  there  was 
nowhere,  but  in  one  State,  any  opposing  ticket.  The 
successful  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  the  approval 
by  President  Madison  of  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  Unjted  States,  had  deprived  the  promoters  of  po 
litical  differences  of  all  ability  any  longer  to  foment 
party  dissensions  and  keep  alive  the  spirit  that  sus 
tains  them.  When  Clayton  came  to  be  in  a  situation, 
therefore,  to  take  part  in  political  strife  (if  he  had  a 
taste  for-  it),  there  was  no  ground  for  difference  of 
opinion,  nor  any  hope,  if  there  were,  of  success  in 
taking  a  stand  upon  it.  Accordingly,  he  did  not  at 
tach  himself  to  the  Federal  party,  to  which  the  Clay 
tons  adhered  from  habit,  nor  did  he  concern  himself 
about  the  small  matter  of  the  success  of  particular 
men  at  elections.  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
he  was  wholly  indifferent  to  the  result  of  the  elections, 
whatever  it  might  be.  He  had  something  more  to  do 
than  give  his  mind  and  thoughts  to  the  contests  of 
men  for  places.  There  being  no  principle  at  stake, 
he  had  no  work  to  perform  in  the  political  field. 
Still,  he  voted,  and  at  the  election  of  1820, 
stood  with  those  who  were  striving  to  promote  what 
they  conceived  to  be  essential  reforms  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Federal  party.  It  was  at  this  election  that  he 
cast  his  first  ballot.  But  he  had,  nevertheless,  before 
this  time,  in  fact  before  he  came  of  age,  attracted  the 
attention  of  leading  men  of  the  then  dominant  party 
(•the  Federal)  in  the  State,  and  was  elected  Clerk  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  sessions  of  1816, 

5 


,fl  MEMOIR    QI< 

1817,  and  1819,  and  of  the  Senate  in  1820,  the  year  of 
the  success  of  the  reform,  or  independent  ticket  — 
which  he  had  voted.  He  was  continued  in  the  latter 
office  for  the  following  years  of  1821  and  1822. 
There  was  a  Federal  party  still  in  the  ascendant  in 
Delaware  at  this  time,  but  it  existed  merely  by  force 
of  habit  —  men  being  the  issue,  and  not  principles. 
At  the  session  of  1821  he  was  appointed  Auditor  of 
Accounts  by  the  Legislature,  —  an  office  of  great  re 
sponsibility,  though  not  always  filled  with  the  most 
competent  men,  —  and  held  that  place  for  two  years, 
when  he  resigned  it.  All  this  time  he  was  working 
hard  at  his  profession.  When  he  resigned  the  auditor- 
ship  he  ceased  to  have  any  official  place,  and  so  con 
tinued  for  six  years.  However,  in  1824,  at  the  close  of 
the  second  term  of  Mr.  Monroe  as  President,  the  people 
were  required  to  decide  who  should  succeed  him.  A 
variety  of  names  was  presented  for  their  selection. 
General  Jackson,  the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Henry  Clay,  William  H.  Crawford, 
and  other  distinguished  men  were  named  —  all  Demo 
crats  :  no  man  offering  the  name  of  a  Federalist,  for 
such  had  no  strength  anywhere  outside  of  New  Eng 
land,  which,  at  that  time,  was  not  so  important  a  section 
as,  now-a-days,  we  are  required  to  believe  that  it  is. 
In  Delaware  some  espoused  the  cause  of  one  of  these 
worthies,  and  some  of  another,  and  there  was  a  strange 
commingling  of  antecedent  discordant  elements.  Clay 
ton's  family  and  many  old  friends  voted  for  Adams,  a.s 
did  a  large  number  of  the  old  Democrats  ;  but  he  him- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


39 


self  took  no  part  in  politics  —  not  even  voting  that  year 
or  the  next.  The  result,  as  all  know,  was  that  there 
was  no  election  by  the  Electoral  College  ;  and  the  House 
of  Representatives,  acting  under  the  Constitution  in  such 
a  contingency,  chose  Adams.  This  result  was  treated 
by  all  Adams'  opponents  as  the  fruit  of  a  bargain 
between  him  and  Clay  (or  rather  the  friends  of  each), 
for  their  mutual  profit.  It  had  color,  from  the  fact  that 
Clay  was  made  Secretary  of  State  ;  but  we  now  know 
that  there  was  no  bargain,  or  understanding  whatever, 
upon  the  subject  of  Clay's  promotion.  This,  however, 
was  not  so  understood  at  the  time,  and  the  friends  of 
General  Jackson  made  good  use  of  the  charge  in  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1828 — when  there  was  a  politi 
cal  conflict  indeed;  and  adversary  met  adversary,  armed 
with  all  the  weapons  of  party  warfare,  and  fired  by  all 
the  spirit  such  strife  creates. 

In  the  interval  between  the  Presidential  election  of 
1824  and  that  of  1828,  Clayton  filled  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State,  first  under  Samuel  Paynter,  who 
was  Governor  in  1824,  and  afterwards  under  Charles 
Polk,  elected  in  1827  —  his  selection  by  the  former, 
being  in  lieu  of  Henry  M.  Ridgely,  who  had  resigned 
to  take  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
(made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Nicholas  Van  Dyke,  and 
partially  filled  by  the  gubernatorial  appointment  of 
Daniel  Rodney),  showing  that  he  had  not,  to  that  time, 
evinced  any  disposition  to  become  a  party  leader  — 
else  so  strong  a  friend  of  General  Jackson,  as  was 
Governor  Paynter,  would  would  not  have  taken  him 


4O  MEMOIR   OF 

as  his  counsellor.  At  the  same  time  that  Samuel 
Paynter  was  Governor,  Mr.  Clayton  was  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  this  State,  and 
served  with  distinction  in  the  office  of  a  legislator  — 
considered  in  those  days  one  of  such  importance  that 
the  best  ability  in  the  State,  legal  and  otherwise,  was 
sought  for,  in  making  out  the  tickets.  By  this  time, 
all  traces  of  difference  of  principle  between  the  old 
parties,  Federal  and  Democratic,  having  entirely  faded, 
the  names  themselves  alone  remained,  and  men  yet 
clung  to  them  from  old  association,  and  for  want  of 
some  general  cause  of  difference  in  sentiment  to  abolish 
them.  They  were  furnished  with  this  in  the  contest 
of  1828,  which  was  waged  solely  between  the  friends 
of  General  Jackson,  who  took  his  name  and  became 
Jackson  men  (or  Jacksonites,  as  their  opponents  pre 
ferred  to  call  them),  and  those  of  the  incumbent,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  who  called  themselves  Administration 
men,  and  were  called  by  their  adversaries  Adams  men. 
In  this  memorable  struggle  there  was  a  bitterness  of 
feeling,  a  fell  spirit  of  hostility,  that  had  never  before 
been  experienced,  nor  has  ever  been  felt  since,  except 
perhaps  during  the  war  with  the  South.  But  for  one 
material  fact,  it  would  be  impossible  to  account  for  all 
the  rancor  the  campaign  of  1828  exhibited;  for  there 
was  no  question  of  foreign  or  domestic  policy  upon 
which  men  need  divide,  nor  had  any  great  constitu 
tional  question  arisen  to  challenge  the  attention  of 
the  people,  such  as  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  in  the 
lifetime  of  the  incumbent's  father;  or  the  re-charter  of 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^l 

the  United  States  Bank,  which  had  been  settled  by 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  sanctioned  by  a  Democratic 
President.  And  the  "  times,"  to  use  the  familiar  lan 
guage  of  the  past  as  well  as  the  present,  were  not  so 
hard  as  to  demand  that  the  cause  of  it  should  be  laid 
on  any  body.  The  tariff  of  that  year  had  only  begun 
to  work.  The  country  was  doing  well  ;  business  was 
reviving  and  prospering  under  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments,  and  the  prospective  operation,  as  its  friends 
claimed,  of  the  new  customs  law.  What,  then,  was  the 
cause  of  the  phenomenal  acrimony  which  distinguished 
that  campaign  ?  It  is  to  be  found,  and  found  alone  in 
the  fact  that  men  discovered  that  they  had  new  adver 
saries  to  fight,  and  they  of  their  own  household.  A 
struggle  for  power,  and  the  offices  that,  not  long  after, 
were  claimed  to  be  its  spoils,  was  so  managed  by  the 
artifices  that  skilful  tacticians  always  have  at  command, 
that  men  were  drawn  into  the  ranks  of  the  opposition, 
or  of  the  administration ;  and,  as  all  old  party  lines  were 
obliterated  with  the  cessation  of  the  reason  for  them, 
it  happened,  naturally,  that  both  the  new  factions  (for 
such  only  they  then  were)  were  composed  of  the  dis 
integrated  elements  of  the  old  parties,  and  men  in  each 
found  themselves  face  to  face  in  opposition  to  those 
whom  they  had  before  called  their  party  friends.  That, 
of  itself,  would  not  necessarily  excite  rancor ;  but  when 
we  take  into  account  and  consider  the  strong  personal, 
but,  for  harmony's  sake,  smothered,  feuds  that  grow 
out  of  party  association,  where  one  man  or  one  set  of 
men  must  always  have  more  power  and  influence  than 


42  MEMOIR    OF 

another,  or  others,  to  the  latter's  discomfiture,  we  can 
understand  why  it  was  that,  such  strong  passions  were 
exhibited  in  the  strife  for  the  Presidency  in  1828. 
Superadded,  was  the  supporting  circumstance,  that  one 
side  was  seeking  to  place  at  the  head  of  affairs,  a 
candidate  alleged  by  his  opponents  to  have  no  quali 
fication  for  the  office,  except  for  that  one  of  its  duties 
which  had  never  been  exercised  elsewhere  than  in  the 
Cabinet  —  that  of  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy.  The  traditions  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the 
practice  of  parties,  all  being  against  the  promotion  of 
military  men  to  civil  power,  the  administration  party 
treated  the  subject  in  the  same  light  as  if  there  were 
a  constitutional  inhibition  against  the  selection,  and 
waged  a  war  against  General  Jackson  which  embla 
zoned  upon  its  banners  coffin  handbills,  and  the  effi 
gies  of  Arbuthnot  and  Armbrister  swinging  in  chains 
in  the  swamps  of  Florida.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
friends  of  Adams  were  constantly  assailed  as  ungrate 
ful  to  one  who,  by  the  victory  of  New  Orleans,  had 
saved  the  country  from  re-subjugation  by  the  British, 
and  as  the  supporters  of  a  scheme  of  "  bargain  and 
sale"  for  the  Presidency,  which  was  then  denounced 
with  all  the  same  epithets  of  fraud  and  corruption 
that  we  have  had  ringing  in  our  ears  with  respect  to 
Southern  Returning  Boards  on  the  one  hand,  and 
revelations  of  cipher  dispatches  on  the  other.  In 
truth  there  was,  from  this  intermixture  of  elements  in 
1828,  a  gigantic  family  feud — an  internecine  war  — 
all  the  more  deadly  in  its  malignity,  because  of  the 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


43 


opportunity  it  afforded  for  suppressed  jealousies  and  cruel 
disappointments  to  avenge  themselves  justifiably.  These 
were  the  feelings  in  Delaware,  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
and  they  found  expression  in  that  memorable  cam 
paign.  I  shall  never  forget  that  time,  though  I  had 
not  advanced  far  in  my  teens.  The  feeling  it  engen 
dered  extended  into  households  and  disturbed  their 
harmony,  and  into  religious  societies  also,  so  that  men 
could  hardly  go  through  the  forms  of  worship,  side  by 
side.  Everybody  in  Delaware  was  compelled  to  take 
sides ;  and  Mr.  Clayton,  feeling,  as  others  did,  that  the 
duty  of  patriotism  called  upon  him  to  declare  for  one 
side  or  the  other,  enrolled  himself  with  his  kinsman, 
Thomas  Clayton,  and  their  numerous  friends,  in  the 
ranks  of  the  administration  ;  while  their  old  party  asso 
ciates,  the  Ridgelys,  Bayards,  McLanes,  and  Rogerses, 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  opposition.  As  the  old 
Federal  party,  to  which  they  had  all  belonged,  was  the 
dominant  State  power,  of  course  the  question,  which 
was  made  by  the  new  order  of  things,  was,  who  should 
rule  the  State  hereafter;  which  of  the  leaders  of  the 
old  party  ?  All  these  men  were  politicians ;  all  were 
in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  life,  and  ambitious  of  the 
control,  by  their  party,  of  the  affairs  of  the  State  ;  and 
all  were  men  of  the  first  ability  also.  The  adminis 
tration  party  succeeded.  Delaware  gave  her  voice  for 
Adams ;  and  a  majority  of  her  Legislature  was  upon 
his  side.  This  result  was  not  attained  without  a  severe 
struggle  all  over  the  State,  in  which  Clayton  took  a 
leading  part,  and  first  displayed  his  surpassing  powers 


AA  MEMOIR    OF 

44 

as  a  popular  orator.  He  also,  with  his  friends,  made 
strong  personal  appeals  to  their  old  party  associates 
to  unite  with  them  in  opposition  to  General  Jackson 
—  many  of  whom,  dissatisfied  on  account  of  the  disso 
lution  of  their  old  party,  and  caring  nothing  for  the 
questions  between  the  new  ones,  only  yielded  to  their 
solicitations,  after  finding  out  that  others  whom  they 
disliked,  politically  or  personally,  had  gone  to  the  other 
side.  I  have  heard  him  relate  a  very  amusing  anec 
dote  illustrative  of  this  strange  state  of  things  —  the 
point  of  which  was  that  one  individual,  notwithstanding 
all  the  arguments  and  appeals  addressed  to  him,  was 
not  able,  at  the  end  of  a  day's  mental  travail,  to  come  to 
any  decision,  until  it  occurred  to  him  to  inquire  what  side 
a  certain  person,  whom  he  thoroughly  hated,  was  on ; 
and  being  answered  that  he  was  a  Jackson  man,  swore 
that  he  then  was  an  Adams  man.  How  many  men 
are  there,  now-a-days,  who  have  any  better  reason  to 
give  for  what  is  called  "  the  faith  that  is  in  them"  ? 
The  administration  men,  or  Adams  men,  being  in 
power  at  the  legislative  session  of  1829,  and  the  time 
of  Henry  M.  Ridgely  having  expired,  John  M.  Clayton, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-three  years  and  a  few  months, 
was  elected  a  Senator  for  the  term  of  six  years,  be 
ginning  with  the  then  next  ensuing  fourth  day  of 
March,  his  competitor  being  Mr.  Ridgely.  He  took 
his  seat  in  the  Senate  on  that  day  at  a  special  ses 
sion  of  that  body,  called,  as  is  usual,  at  the  beginning 
of  a  Presidential  term,  and  witnessed  the  inauguration 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  who  had  defeated  President  Adams 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  45 

by  a  large  majority  in  the  Electoral  College.  Then 
may  be  said  to  have  commenced  his  political  career ; 
for  the  campaign  of  which  the  ceremony  of  that  day 
was  the  result,  was  the  first  in  which  he  took  any 
prominent  part.  He  had,  in  truth,  no  inclination  for 
such  contests  as  those  in  Delaware  had  been  in  his  day, 
up  to  that  time  —  mere  struggles  for  supremacy  with 
out  any  real  principle  at  stake  —  though  he  had  voted, 
as  before  said,  in  1820,  and  at  intervals  afterwards.  When 
he  entered  the  Senate  he  found  himself  to  be  the 
youngest  member  of  that  body ;  and,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  his  colleague,  he  knew  none  of  the  Senators 
personally,  and  perhaps  none  of.  them  had  ever  heard 
at  all  of  him,  unless  in  answer  to  inquiries  always 
made,  when  a  new  member  is  to  be  joined  to  the 
body,  to  find  out  what  standing  he  has  in  his  State 
as  a  man  of  talents.  There  were  then  in  the  Senate, 
or  entering  it  with  him,  some  of  the  greatest  men 
this  country  has  ever  known  —  men  whose  renown  for 
patriotism  and  ability  was,  in  their  day,  enough  to 
satisfy  the  most  craving  ambition,  but  which  since  then 
has  increased  in  fulness  until  those  worthies  occupy 
the  highest  niches  in  the  temple  of  fame  in  America. 
Daniel  Webster,  Henry  Clay,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Felix 
Grundy,  Hugh  L.  White,  John  Holmes,  Asher  Robbins, 
John  C.  Calhoun,  Edward  Livingston,  and  Robert  Y. 
Hayne  were  there,  besides  others  worthy  to  be  ranked 
with  them,  in  the  list  of  strong  men  in  intellect,  and 
pure  minds  as  statesmen.  Some  of  these  heroes  had 
made  a  study  of  the  service  of  politics  (I  speak  of 

6 


.£  MEMOIR    OF 

politics  in  its  broad  sense  as  a  philosophical  system), 
and  were  skilled  in  all  the  learning  of  the  past  with 
respect  to  public  government,  including  especially  a 
knowledge,  perfect  in  all  respects,  of  the  constitutional 
history  of  the  United  States  as  a  Federal  body,  and 
of  the  several  States,  composing  the  whole,  in  their 
colonial  relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  mother 
country.  And  they  had,  most  of  them,  all  the  benefit 
which  can  accrue  from  frequent  discussion,  where  every 
one  found  his  equal.  Into  this  society  entered  Dela 
ware's  young  Senator,  modest,  unused  to  the  scene  be 
fore  him  (for  he  had  never  even  seen  either  House  of 
Congress  in  session),  but  possessing  within  him  those 
qualities  which  fitted  him  to  take  his  part  of  the 
duties  his  high  station  cast  upon  him.  And  he  knew 
that  he  possessed  those  qualities.  What  man  of  real 
power  does  not  ?  By  this  time  he  had  attained  his 
full  physical  proportions.  The  traces  of  sorrow  for 
the  loss  of  his  wife  had  disappeared,  leaving  in  their 
place  an  expression  of  repose  which,  superadded  to  the 
fine  intellectual  lineaments  of  his  commanding  counte 
nance,  his  clear  complexion,  and  large  gray  eyes,  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  all  who  met  him.  It  was 
clearly  apparent  that  here  was  a  remarkable  man  ; 
large  size,  fine  figure,  fair  complexion,  handsome  fea 
tures,  a  countenance  full  of  intelligence,  a  manner  gra 
cious  and  familiar,  but  dignified  also,  —  all  proclaimed 
him  an  extraordinary  person  before  he  had  opened  his 
mouth  in  the  presence  of  his  brother  Senators.  His 
social  qualities,  consisting  of  ease  and  freedom  of  man- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  47 

ner,  exceeding  powers  of  conversation,  amiability  of 
disposition,  that  consideration  and  respect  for  others 
which  never  would  allow  him  to  be  guilty  of  the  ill- 
bred  and  vulgar  habit  some  have,  of  interrupting  con 
versation  in  order  that  their  own  small  selves  may  be 
heard ;  gracious  recognition  at  all  times  and  places  of 
all  with  whom  he  had  acquaintance  — '-all  conspired  to 
make  him  not  only  a  great  favorite  with  his  mess, 
but  with  all  whom  he  met,  or  with  whom  he  was 
thrown  in  company.  It  has  always  been  the  testimony 
of  those  at  Washington  who  knew  him,  that  he  en 
joyed  a  greater  personal  popularity  than  any  other  Sen 
ator  :  and  any  here  present  who  knew  him  in  his  public 
day,  can  readily  understand  why  he  was  so.  Social 
intercourse  with  John  M.  Clayton  was  a  great  pleasure, 
which  all  could  enjoy ;  for,  surely,  no  man  was  so 
accessible,  and  none  took  such  pains  (though  all  un 
observed  by  his  visitor)  to  render  their  communion 
agreeable.  While  he  talked  himself,  and  was  fond  of 
doing  it  (for  he  had  an  overflowing  mind  that  could 
not  be  restrained  from  expression),  he  would  yet  ever 
contrive  to  lead  the  conversation  to  some  topic  fa- 
familiar  to  his  guest,  or  auditor,  and  draw  him  out  to 
take  his  part  in  the  discourse ;  and  thus  impress  him 
with  a  most  grateful  thought  —  that  he  had  contributed 
his  share  to  an  entertainment,  where  he  only  expected 
to  be  a  recipient.  Everybody  left  him  fully  impressed 
that  he  was  not  only  the  most  agreeable  great  man 
they  had  ever  seen,  but  the  most  interesting 
also  —  for  he  really  knew  immensely  of  many  things, 


4g  MEMOIR    OF 

and  something  of  almost  everything.  In  all  my 
long  experience  of  him,  beginning  in  May,  1831,  and 
ending  only  with  his  life,  I  never  knew  any  subject 
of  conversation  started  about  which  he  did  not  seem 
to  have  a  great  deal  of  accurate  knowledge.  A  great 
reader,  with  a  mind  that  could  be  interested  in  any 
useful  subject,  and  a  memory  which  preserved  most 
tenaciously  all  that  mind  required  it  should  retain,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  he  had  such  general  information. 
Other  men,  no  doubt,  were  equally  well-informed,  and 
some  perhaps  better  —  for  there  are  magazines  of  a 
mental  kind  where  all  knowledge  is  stored  —  but  it 
was  more  than  rare  to  find  one  who  was  so  willing  to 
hold  converse  with  others,  and  possessed  withal  such 
fluency  and  beauty,  besides  simplicity  and  ease,  of  ex 
pression.  No  wonder,  I  repeat,  then,  that  he  so  soon 
became  a  favorite  with  his  brother  Senators.  His 
presence  and  manner  were  not  to  be  resisted,  and 
during  the  years  that  followed,  when  he  felt  it,  often 
times,  to  be  his  duty  to  deal  in  unsparing  terms  of 
denunciation  with  what  he  thought  to  be  corruptions 
in  the  public  service,  or  usurpation  of  power  by  the 
the  Executive,  or  arrogation  of  authority  by  false 
interpreters  of  the  Constitution  to  render  nugatory 
valid  acts  of  Congress  by  State  ordinances,  he  yet 
retained  the  personal  respect  of  all  with  whom  he 
differed,  and  challenged  their  admiration,  for  his  ability 
and  oratorical  eminence. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


DEBATE  ON  FOOT'S  RESOLUTION. 

At  the  first  session  of  Congress  after  Mr.  Clayton's 
appointment  to  the  Senate,  that  of  December,  1830, 
we  find  him  engaged  in  the  debates  upon  some  of 
the  subjects  of  most  prominent  inteffest  before  the 
country,  such  as  the  Public  Lands,  the  Graduation 
Bill,  the  Appropriation  Bill,  and  (on  the  4th  of  March, 
1830)  on  the  celebrated  resolution  of  Foot,  of  Connec 
ticut,  which  furnished  the  text  for  the  greatest  debate 
that  ever  occurred  in  that  body. 

The  resolution  itself .  was  one  of  inquiry,  simply, 
about  the  public  lands  ;  the  proper  disposition  of  them  ; 
and  the  policy,  generally,  with  respect  to  them.  But, 
like  many  other  small  subjects  on  other  occasions,  it 
gave  rise  to  a  debate  which  occupied  many  weeks, 
and  was  participated  in  by  all  the  leading  men  of 
the  Senate ;  it  having  drawn  within  its  vortex  almost 
every  subject  that  divided  parties,  and  elicited  the  best 
argument  that  could  possibly  be  made  in  favor  of 
nullification  —  or  the  annulment  by  a  State  of  an  act 
of  Congress,  which,  in  her  judgment,  is  not  authorized 
by  the  Constitution.  The  topic  of  the  resolution  was, 
of  course,  discussed  very  thoroughly,  because  of  its 
general  importance ;  but  the  attention  of  the  country 
was  specially  drawn  by  the  introduction  into  the  de 
bate  of  a  question  which  had  been  raised  very  soon 
after  the  Government  was  founded  —  which  question  was, 
the  remedy  for  a  State,  or  States,  in  case  of  enact- 


£0  MEMOIR    OF 

ments  by  Congress,  which  in  their  judgment  were 
"  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  other 
powers"  not  granted  by  the  compact.  The  country  was 
confronted  with  a  question  of  such  momentous  import 
ance  ;  and  patriots  everywhere  looked  with  the  greatest 
concern  upon  the  contest.  The  chief  representative  of 
the  doctrine  ©{^nullification  was  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  of 
South  Carolina,  a  man  of  the  first  order  of  ability  ; 
and  his  chief  opponent  was  Daniel  Webster,  who,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  was  the 
greatest  of  our  long  list  of  distinguished  public  men. 
Of  commanding  presence,  gigantic  mind  replete  with 
knowledge  of  all  that  the  debate  required,  and  an 
action  and  utterance  in  entire  harmony  with  his 
majesty  of  intellect,  he  was  the  master  of  the  Caro 
linian  in  the  end  —  though  it  is  not  to  be  denied  by 
any,  that  in  him  he  met  a  "  foeman  worthy  of  his 
steel." 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  quote  any  part  of  the 
remarks  of  either  champion  in  this  memoir,  for  it 
would  be  impossible  to  do  justice  to  them,  by  such 
citations.  It  is  enough  that  almost  every  one  read  at  the 
time,  or  has  since  gone  over,  the  speeches  themselves 
in  full;  and  that  all  understand  that  the  verdict  of 
the  nation  was  for  the  argument  of  the  "  Great  Ex 
pounder,"  as  he  then  came  to  be  called.  The  verdict 
remained  undisturbed  practically  until  there  was  an 
attempt,  begun  in  April,  1861,  to  reverse  it  by  force  of 
arms. 

Into    this    great   debate    John     M.   Clayton    entered, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  5  T 

as  I  have  said,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1830,  and  de 
livered  his  views  at  great  length  upon  three  of  the 
subjects  discussed  —  public  lands  question,  the  Execu 
tive  power  of  removal,  and  the  right  claimed  for  a 
State  to  take  her  case  into  her  own  hands.  He  had 
then  only  had  three  months  experience  of  Senatorial 
life — the  special  session  of  March  4,  1829,  having  been 
confined  to  executive  business,  and  the  first  regular 
meeting  for  legislation  having  taken  place  on  the  first 
Monday  of  December  of  that  year  —  but  he  displayed 
an  amount  of  knowledge  with  the  first  and  second  of 
these  subjects,  and  skill  in  their  discussion,  that  aston 
ished  all  his  friends,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
men  in  public  life.  It  was,  at  once,  seen  that  he  was 
destined  to  make  a  great  figure  in  the  Congress  of 
his  country ;  and  this  reconciled  his  political  oppo 
nents  in  Delaware  to  his  election  —  for  it  is  a  feature 
in  the  character  of  our  people,  that  they  have  great 
pride  in  the  fame  of  a  distinguished  fellow-citizen,  no 
matter  what  his  politics.  The  other  subject  —  the  con 
stitutional  one  —  was  most  ably  and  thoroughly  handled, 
and  the  argument  made  against  the  State  power  was 
unanswerable ;  which  appeared,  among  other  ways,  by 
the  admirable  illustration  he  made  to  show  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  establishing  the  doctrine  asserted 
by  the  nullifiers. 

The  question  of  the  power  of  the  President  to  re 
move  a  public  officer,  not  a  judge,  without  cause,  was 
thoroughly  treated  in  this  speech,  which  was  conceded, 
on  all  hands,  to  be  as  strong  a  protest,  by  argument, 


e2  MEMOIR    OF 

against  it,  as  had  ever  been  made;  but  with  reference 
to  that  question,  it  accomplished  nothing  more  than  to 
put  the  .subject,  to  use  a  frequent  expression  of  his, 
"  in  a  proper  point  of  light."  Whoever  will  read  his 
argument  will  find  it  full,  frank,  and  exhaustive.  He 
referred  to  the  discussion,  and  the  result  against  his 
views,  in  a  debate,  hereafter  noticed,  which  occurred 
twenty-six  years  afterwards,  and  when  the  country  had 
come  to  regard  (alas  for  its  welfare !)  the  offices  as 
"  spoils"  of  victory,  with  which  a  successful  party 
might  enrich  itself.  This  speech  was  delivered  before 
the  last  and  greatest  speech  made  by  Mr.  Webster  in 
the  debate ;  and  at  the  time  of  its  delivery  Clayton 
was  six  months  less  than  thirty-four  years  old ;  and 
before  that  time  he  had  been  engaged  in  executive 
session  in  the  debate  on  the  removal  subject,  as  ap 
pears  by  a  speech  of  Mr.  Barton,  of  Missouri,  from 
which  the  injunction  of  secrecy  was  removed. 


CORRUPTIONS  IN  THE  POST-OFFICE 
DEPARTMENT. 

In  the  very  first  week  of  the  next  session  of  Con 
gress,  commencing  in  December,  1831,  Mr.  Clayton  in 
troduced  his  celebrated  resolution  to  inquire  into  the 
abuses  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  This  inquiry 
imposed  upon  him  a  herculean  task.  It  was  surrounded 
by  difficulties  which  seemed,  at  first,  to  be  insur 
mountable,  the  more  especially  as  the  whole  over- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  53 

whelming  force  of  the  Executive  and  his  party,  sec 
onded  by  as  strong  a  partisan  press  as  ever  was  known 
in  the  country,  was  unceasingly  directed  to  suppress  the 
inquiry,  to  misrepresent  and  distort  the  facts  which  it 
elicited,  and  to  crush  those  who  had  engaged  in  it. 
During  this  short  session,  as  the  investigation  pro 
ceeded,  the  advocates  of  the  department  and  of  the 
party  in  power  endeavored  to  embarrass  the  commit 
tee  by  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  absolutely  ordering 
the  suppression  of  so  much  of  the  investigation  as 
tended  to  expose  the  causes  for  which  faithful  public 
officers  had  been  removed  from  office.  This  drew  from 
Mr.  Clayton  one  of  his  most  labored  efforts  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  a  speech  then  delivered. 
The  proscription  by  the  Administration,  in  that  day, 
astonished  and  shocked  many  of  its  warmest  support 
ers,  by  the  extent,  and,  as  some  characterized  it,  the 
ferocity,  with  which  that  system  was  carried  out.  Pro 
scription  for  opinion's  sake  was  then  commenced,  and 
has  since  been  continued  by  every  party  that  has 
gained  possession  of  official  patronage  But  removals 
from  office  were  then  deemed  acts  of  private  oppres 
sion,  inflicted  by  the  iron  hand  of  power,  especially 
when,  as  in  some  cases,  attacks  upon  private  character 
were  made  to  justify  the  displacement  of  the  incum 
bent.  Against  what  Mr.  Clayton  considered  this  system 
of  tyranny,  he  urged  unceasing  warfare.  He  and  his 
political  friends  denounced  what  they  charged  was  a 
prescriptive  system  generally,  but  especially  in  refer 
ence  to  the  Department  whose  affairs  it  was  their  duty 


54  MEMOIR   OF 

to  investigate.  At  this  critical  period  the  machinations 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  caused  the  first  rupture  between 
General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun ;  and  at  this  period 
also,  the  opponents  of  the  Administration  first  com 
menced  that  movement,  which  was  finally  successful, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  draw  Mr.  Calhoun  and 
his  friends  in  opposition  to  the  strong  will  which 
was,  relentlessly,  crushing  all  opposed  to  the  Executive. 
The  following,  taken  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Clayton, 
presents  us  with  the  first  instance  of  the  attempt  of 
the  minority  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Southern  cham 
pion,  who  afterwards  himself  became  so  distinguished 
an  opponent  of  all  the  arbitrary  measures  of  General 
Jackson,  as  they  were  then  stigmatized : 

"  But  it  will  soon  be  seen  whether  there  be  not 
one  man  in  this  nation  able  to  breast  its  terrors  (the 
terrors  of  President  Jackson's  Administration)  whenever 
the  President  hurls  its  thunders.  There  are  hawks 
abroad,  sir.  Rumor  alleges  that  the  plundering  falcon 
has  lately  stooped  upon  a  full-winged  eagle  that  never 
yet  flinched  from  a  contest,  and,  as  might  be  natu 
rally  expected,  all  await  the  result  with  intense  inter 
est.  It  is  given  out,  that  the  intended  victim  of  pro 
scription  now  is  one  distinguished  far  above  all  in 
office  for  the  vigor  and  splendor  of  his  intellect, 

'  Micat  inter  omnes 

Velut  inter  ignes  luna  minores.' 

One  who  has  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  party 
which  gave  power  to  our  modern  dictator,  is  to  feel 
the  undying  vengeance  which  can  burst  forth,  after 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  55 

the  lapse  of  twelve  years,  for  an  act  done  or  a  word 
said  in  a  high  official  station  and  under  the  solemn 
obligation  of  an  oath.  But  if  that  energy  and  fairness 
which  have  hitherto  characterized  him  through  life,  do 
not  desert  him  in  this  hour  of  greatest  peril,  we  may 
yet  live  to  see  one,  who  has  been  marked  out  as  a 
victim,  escape  unscathed  even  by  that  power  which 
has  thus  far  prostrated  alike  the  barriers  of  public  law 
and  the  sanctity  of  private  reputation.  In  the  mean 
time  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  injuries  inflicted 
by  that  proscription  which  levels  first  at  the  office  and 
then  at  character  to  justify  the  blow,  is  not  less  se 
verely  felt  because  the  sufferer  has  not  moved  in  a 
splendid  circle.  The  '  beetle  that  we  tread  upon  may 
feel  a  pang  as  great  as  when  a  giant  dies ;'  and, 
looking  at  the  case  to  which  I  have  alluded,  may  not 
the  hundreds  who  have  felt  the  sting  of  unmerited  re 
proach,  fairly  invite  the  sympathies  of  others  who  are 
now  made  the  objects  of  an  attack  not  less  unmerited 
and  unrelenting  in  its  character  than  that  which  their 
humbler  efforts  may  have  been  unable  to  resist?" 

During  the  many  incidental  discussions  in  which 
Mr.  Clayton  was  engaged  during  this  session,  Isaac 
Hill,  of  New  Hampshire,  volunteered  a  written  speech, 
which  he  read  at  great  length  in  his  place  in  the 
Senate,  in  defence  of  the  alleged  abuses  of  the  Post- 
Office  Department,  and  in  it  made  a  personal  attack  upon 
the  members  of  the  committee  who  were  engaged  in 
the  inquiry;  and  for  this  he  immediately  received  what 
may  even  now  be  called  a  castigation  as  severe  per 
haps  as'  any  ever  administered  to  a  mere  servant  of 
power. 


eg  MEMOIR  OF 

The  investigation  for  this  session,  though  half  sup 
pressed  by  the  party  vote  in  the  Senate,  terminated  in 
a  complete  triumph  for  the  committee.  Enough  was 
developed  to  awake  the  attention  of  the  public.  Thir 
ty-six  forgeries  in  one  public  document  were  discov 
ered  —  forgeries  manifestly  made,  too,  for  the  purpose 
of  transferring  all  the  odium  for  the  grant  of  some 
of  the  most  indefeasible  extra  allowances  to  mail  con 
tractors  for  party  purposes,  from  the  shoulders  of 
the  Postmaster-General,  who  was  in  truth  totally  un 
connected  with  these  frauds.  Mr.  Clayton  persevered 
in  his  exertions  to  expose  the  abuses  of  this  Depart 
ment  during  both  the  succeeding  sessions  of  Congress, 
and  never  intermitted  his  labors,  until,  despite  of  all 
efforts  made  by  opponents,  the  most  stupendous  system 
of  fraud  and  peculation,  and  bribery  and  corruption, 
was  at  last  exposed  and  laid  before  the  nation,  that, 
up  to  that  time,  had  ever  stained  the  career  of  any 
administration  in  this  country.  Not  satisfied  with  this, 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  reformation  of  the  Depart 
ment,  and  was  the  first  man  who  ever  pointed  out  the 
true  remedy  for  these  abuses.  In  one  of  his  speeches 
in  the  year  1834,  after  inviting  the  attention  of  the 
Senate  to  the  enormous  amount  of  secret  service  money 
annually  expended  by  the  Postmaster-General,  without 
control  or  check  —  after  showing  how,  by  means  of 
this  secret  service  money,  commonly  called  in  the  re 
ports  of  the  day,  the  incidental  expenses  of  the  De 
partment,  immense  sums  could  be  annually  lavished  to 
subsidize  the  public  press,  and  for  other  unworthy  uses, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  57 

without  the  danger  of  detection — Mr.  Clayton  gave  it  as 
his  opinion  that  the  only  mode  of  effectually  arresting 
the  evil  was  to  bring  the  Department  under  the  control 
of  Congress,  as  the  Constitution  directed  it  should  be. 
He  showed  that,  from  the  very  origin  of  the  Govern 
ment,  this  Department  had  been  unconstitutiorfally  ad 
ministered  ;  that  its  revenues  were  part  of  the  treasure 
of  the  nation,  and  like  all  other  public  money,  could 
not  be  withdrawn  from  the  Treasury  without  an  appro 
priation  made  by  law ;  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Con 
gress  to  make  annual  specific  appropriations  out  of  the 
revenues  of  the  Post-Office,  as  well  as  the  other  reve 
nues  of  the  country,  to  meet  all  the  necessary  expen 
ditures  of  the  Government ;  that  from  the  origin  of 
the  Government  to  that  day,  a  period  of  more  than 
forty  years,  Congress  had  been  unmindful  of  this  sacred 
obligation,  permitting  the  Postmaster-General  annually 
to  disburse  millions  of  the  public  money  without  war 
rant  of  law,  and  at  his  sole  pleasure  and  caprice ;  that 
the  secret  service  fund;  which  was  originally  but  a  few 
hundred  dollars,  had,  by  this  abandonment  of  the  con 
stitutional  duty  of  Congress,  now  swelled  to  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and  might 
with  equal  propriety  at  any  time  be  raised  to  a 
million ;  and  that,  besides  these  incidental  expenses, 
Congress  was  then  annually  called  upon  to  appropriate 
out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  nation  a  sum  of  one  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  to  defray,  what  was  called,  the 
contingent  expenses  of  the  Department.  He  proposed 
to  reform  the  Department  altogether,  —  to  make  it 


Kg  MEMOIR   Of 

responsible,  and  subject  it  tp  the  scrutiny  and  control 
of  Congress,  without  whose  check  the  frauds  he  had 
exposed  would  be  repeated  with  impunity,  as  often  as 
corrupt  or  careless  men  should  come  to  the  control 
of  this  branch  of  the  Government.  This  important  sug 
gestion  was  afterwards  adopted  by  Congress,  and  the 
triumph  of  Mr.  Clayton  and  his  friends  over  those 
whose  abuses  he  had  exposed,  was  completed  by  the 
passage  of  a  law  providing  for  the  thorough  reorgani 
zation  and  reformation  of  the  Department. 

From  the  year  1832  to  December,  1836,  Mr.  Clay 
ton,  although  employed  in  professional  life  during  the 
recess  of  Congress,  was  engaged  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree  in  the  discussion  of  the  leading  topics  of  public 
and  political  interest  then  agitating  the  country.  The 
period  of  his  Congressional  career  was  the  most  stormy 
that  had  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  Republic. 
More  questions  of  vital  importance  to  the  people  were 
agitated  between  1828  and  1837  than  during  any  other 
equal  number  of  years  preceding.  At  the  time  of  the 
passage  of  the  Bank  Bill  in  1832,  Mr.  Clayton  was  one 
of  those  who  most  ardently  and  anxiously  advocated 
the  preservation  of  the  currency,  and  the  financial  system 
of  the  country.  He  opposed  all  innovations  and  ex 
periments  upon  them;  and  when  President  Jackson's 
veto  message  was  under  consideration  in  the  Senate, 
he  delivered  a  speech  in  opposition  to  the  veto, 
which  was  afterwards  a  thousand  times  quoted  as  con 
clusive  evidence  that  his  political  friends  of  that  day 
foresaw  and  foretold  all  the  distress  and  ruin  through 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  59 

which  the  country  passed  in  the  course  of  that  decade. 
Here  is  a  part  of  what  he  said,  in  discussing  the  veto 
message  ;  and  it  will  appear,  in  reading  it,  how  states 
men  of  later  days  have,  in  their  advocacy  of  a  stable 
system  of  finance,  profited  by  his  thoughts  and  the 
language  in  which  he  clothed  them  : 

"  I  ask,  What  is  to  be  done  for  the  country  ?  All 
thinking  men  must  now  admit  that,  as  the  -present 
bank  must  close  its  concerns  in  less  than  four  years, 
the  pecuniary  distress,  the  commercial  embarrassments, 
consequent  upon  its  destruction,  must  exceed  anything 
which  has  ever  been  known  in  our  history,  unless  some 
other  bank  can  be  established  to  relieve  us.  Eight 
and  a  half  millions  of  the  bank  capital,  belonging  to 
foreigners,  must  be  withdrawn  from  us  to  Europe. 
Seven  millions  of  the  capital  must  be  paid  to  the 
Government,  not  to  be  loaned  again,  but  to  remain,  as 
the  President  proposes,  deposited  in  a  branch  of  the 
Treasury,  to  check  the  issues  of  the  local  banks.  The 
immense  available  resources  of  the  present  institution, 
amounting,  as  appears  by  a  report  in  the  other  House, 
to  $62,057,483,  are  to  be  used  for  banking  no  longer ; 
and  nearly  fifty  millions  of  dollars  in  notes,  discounted 
on  personal  and  other  security,  must  be  paid  to  the 
bank.  The  State  banks  must  pay  over  all  their  debts 
to  the  expiring  institution,  and  curtail  their  discounts 
to  do  so ;  or  resort,  for  the  relief  of  their  debtors, 
to  the  old  plan  of  emitting  more  paper,  to  be  bought 
up  by  speculators  at  a  heavy  discount.  The  prediction 
of  Mr.  Lowndes  in  1819  must  be  fulfilled,  'That  the 
destruction  of  the  United  States  Bank  would  be  fol 
lowed  by  the  establishment  of  paper  money,  he  firmly 


go  MEMOIR    OF 

believed  —  he  might  almost  say  he  knew.'  '  It  was  an 
extremity,'  he  said,  '  from  which  the  House  would  re 
coil.'  The  farmer  must  again  sell  his  grain  to  the 
country  merchant  for  State  bank  paper,  at  a  discount 
of  from  ten  to  twenty,  or  even  thirty  per  cent.,  in  the 
nearest  commercial  city.  The  merchant  must  receive 
from  the  .farmer  the  same  paper  in  exchange  for  all 
the  merchandise  he  consumes.  The  merchant  with  his 
money  must  purchase  other  merchandise  in  the  cities, 
and  must  often  sell  it,  at  an  advance  on  that  price, 
to  the  farmer,  of  twenty  per  cent.,  to  save  himself 
from  loss. 

"  The  depreciation  of  the  paper  thus  operates  as  a 
tax  on  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  and  all  the  consumers 
of  merchandise,  to  its  whole  amount.  The  loss  of 
confidence  among  men ;  the  total  derangement  of  that 
desirable  system  of  exchanges  which  is  now  admitted 
to  be  better  than  exists  in  any  other  country  on  the 
globe ;  overtrading  and  speculating  on  false  capital  in 
every  part  of  the  country  ;  that  rapid  fluctuation  in  the 
standard  of  value  for  money  which,  like  the  unseen 
pestilence,  withers  all  the  efforts  of  industry,  while  the 
sufferer  is  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  cause  of  his  de 
struction  ;  bankruptcies  and  ruin,  at  the  anticipation  of 
which  the  heart  sickens  ;  must  follow  in  the  long  train 
of  evils  which  are  assuredly  before  us.  Where  then  — 
where  then,  I  demand  to  know/  sir,  is  the  remedy  to 
save  us  ?  In  a  Government  bank  —  a  branch  of  the 
Treasury  —  without  stockholders  or  property  —  without 
the  power  to  issue  a  dollar  of  paper,  or  to  loan  a 
dollar  of  any  kind  —  without  the  ability  to  deal  in  ex 
changes,  except  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  for  paying 
its  officers  to  stand  behind  the  counter  —  controlling 
the  State  bank  emissions  of  unsound  currency  only  by 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  6r 

refusing  to  take  their  notes  in  payment  of  the  custom 
house  bonds,  when  the  Executive  may  think  them 
about  to  prove  refractory  at  an  election." 

How    exactly  was  all    this    prediction  fulfilled  to    the 
very    letter ! 


.THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1833. 

During  the  whole  of  his  Congressional  life,  Mr. 
Clayton  was  the  constant  advocate  of  the  protective 
policy ;  and  so  .deeply  was  he  convinced  of  the  neces 
sity  of  maintaining  and  preserving  that  policy,  that  in 
the  famous .  debate  on  the  Compromise  Act  in  1833,  he 
declared  that  "  he  would  pause  before  he  surrendered 
it,  even  to  save  the  Union,  dearly  as  he  loved,  and 
highly  as  he  prized,  the  latter."  He  took  a  more  active 
part  in  the  advocacy  and  passage  of  that  bill  than  any 
other  man  in  Congress,  with  the  single  Exception  of 
Henry  Clay.  Indeed,  Mr.  Clay,  in  a  debate  in  the  year 
1836,  publicly  ascribed  the  passage  of  that  law  to  Mr. 
Clayton  —  without  whose  exertions,  he  said,  it  could 
not  -have  been  enacted. 

Of  the  vital  importance  of  the  passage  of  this  act, 
at  the  perilous  crisis  when  it  was  discussed  in  Con 
gress,  we  can  judge  only  by  referring  back  to  the 
thrilling  events  which  were  cotemporaneous  with  it. 
South  Carolina  had  openly,  in  solemn  convention, 
passed  her  ordinance  of  nullification.  Her  State  troops 

were    organized,  and    a    new    military  system  adopted  by 

s 


62  MEMOIR    OF 

her,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  active  resistance  to  the 
tariff  law  of  1828.  Officers  of  great  talent,  including 
among  others  that  gifted  gentleman  and  chivalrous  and 
intrepid  commander,  General  Hamilton,  were  selected 
by  the  State  authorities  to  lead  the  brave  but  misled 
South  Carolinians  to  battle  in  defence  of  the  ordinance 
of  nullification.  The  sympathies  of  all  the  surrounding 
Southern  States  were,  every  day,  most  ardently  and  elo 
quently  invoked  in  favor  of  South  Carolina  ;  and  thou 
sands  of  misguided  and  deluded  men  in  the  Middle  and 
in  the  Northern  sections  of  the  Union  constantly  avowed 
their  rooted  hostility  to  the  whole  protective  policy,  and 
their  friendship  for  the  South  Carolinians,  whom  they 
professed  to  consider  as  their  oppressed  countrymen. 
There  was  scarcely  a  State  in  the  Union  which  did 
not  contain  many  votaries  of  the  free  trade  doctrine, 
ready  to  aid  by  their  personal  services,  or  their  purses, 
the  cause  of  the  assumed  sufferers.  In  the  midst  of 
this  (as  we*  now  know  it  to  have  been)  great  infatu 
ation,  the  President  himself,  backed  by  all  his  Cabinet 
ministers,  at  the  .head  of  whom  stood  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  sought  •  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
country  only  by  breaking  down  the  tariff.  Early  in 
the  session  of  1832-3,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
sent  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  an  Execu 
tive  projet  of  a  new  tariff,  which,  with  slight  altera 
tions,  was  adopted  and  reported  by  that  committee, 
estimating  the  whole  revenue  necessary  to  be  raised 
for  support  of  Government  at  only  twelve  millions  of 
dollars,  and  imposing  duties,  the  average*  of  which  did 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  £3 

not  exceed  fifteen  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  The  moment 
this  proposition,  emanating  from  the  Executive  (who 
pending  his  election  had  professed  himself  in  favor  of 
a  judicious  tariff],  made  its  appearance,  the  friends  of 
home  labor,  as  the  tariff  men  called  themselves,  saw 
that  the  axe  was  to  be  laid  at  the  root  of  the  whole 
protective  policy.  They  had  witnessed,  before  this,  with 
what  facility  the  colossal  power  of  the  Executive  had 
prostrated  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  —  whose  pop 
ularity  was  so  great  at  the  time  of  the  President's 
accession  to  power,  that  its  re-charter  was  looked  upon 
as  unquestionable.  They  had  seen  the  whole  system 
of  internal  improvements  crushed  by  the  Maysville 
veto,  and  this  too  from  one  who  came  into  power  pro 
fessing  to  be  the  friend  of  that  system.  They  now, 
therefore,  with  good  reason,  viewed  all  these  principles 
that  upheld  the  domestic  industry  of  the  country,  as  being 
in  the  utmost  peril.  At  the  same  dreadful  moment, 
the  very  Union  of  the  States  was  tottering  to  its  down 
fall.  They  believed  that  the  very  first  blood  shed  on 
the  plains  of  South  Carolina  would  be  the  signal  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Republic;  and  they  justly  rea- 
sonad,  that,  even  should  the  Union  survive  the  conflict* 
the  whole  tariff  policy  would  become  odious  in  the 
eyes  of  the  friends  of  civil  liberty  and  republican  gov 
ernment,  as  the  existing  cause  of  the  butchery  of  their 
countrymen.  In  the  meantime  they  beheld  the  Presi 
dent  enraged  to  frenzy  by  the  threat  of  resistance 
to  his  power,  denouncing  the  South  Carolinians  as 
rebels  and  traitors,  proclaiming  their  disgrace  as  such 


64  MEMOIR    OF 

to  the  world,  and  threatening  vengeance  against  their 
leaders,  whom  he  vowed  he  would  hang,  upon  the 
commission  of  the  first  overt  act  of  resistance  to  the 
law.  At  this  moment  Mr.  Clayton  avowed  his  firm 
determination  to  sustain  the  Executive  in  his  efforts  to 
maintain  the  authority  of  the  laws ;  and,  throwing  aside, 
for  the  sake  of  the  country,  all  the  bonds  and  tram 
mels  of  party,  openly  stood  forth  in  vindication  of  the 
President's  authority  to  execute  the  laws,  For  this 
purpose  he  delivered  a  speech  in  the  Senate  in  Feb 
ruary,  1833,  in  support  of  the  bill  for  the  collection  of 
duties  on  imports,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  to 
Mr.  Tyler,  then  a  Senator  from  Virginia,  afterwards 
acting  President  of  the  United  States.  In  this  speech 
he  reviewed,  at  great  length,  the  whole  doctrine  of 
nullification  and  State  secession.  The  following  pas 
sages  from  the  speech  will  show  the  true  position 
which  he  chose  to  occupy  in  reference  to  the  Exec 
utive,  at  this  crisis,  and  also  elucidate  his  views  upon 
various  subjects  and  theories  introduced  into  the  de 
bate.  In  the  second  paragraph  he  says : 

"  If  a  doubt  had  ever  existed  in  my  mind  £s  to 
the  course  which  it  is  my  duty  to  pursue  in  regard 
to  this  measure,  that  doubt  would  have  been  removed 
by  the  just  influence  of  the  sentiments  of  those  who, 
as  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people  of  that 
State  which  has  commissioned  me  to  act  as  Senator 
on  this  floor,  have  fully  expressed  themselves  in  certain 
resolutions,  a  copy  of  which  is  now  before  me.  These 
resolutions,  in  substance,  declare,  that  the  Constitution 


J  O  H  N    M.     L  LA  Y  7  O  A' .  £  - 

is  not  a  treaty  or  a  mere  compact  between  sovereign 
States,  but  a  form  of  government  emanating  from  and 
established  by  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  that 
this  Government,  although  one  of  limited  powers,  is 
supreme  within  its  sphere  of  action,  and  that  the  people 
owe  to  it  an  allegiance  which  cannot,  consistently  with 
the  Constitution,  be  withdrawn  by  State  nullification  or 
State  secession  ;  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  is  the  only  and  proper  tribunal  for  the  settle 
ment,  in  the  the  last  resort,  of  controversies  arising 
under  that  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  Congress;  that 
in  cases  of  gross  and  intolerable  oppression,  for  which 
the  ordinary  .remedies  to  be  found  in  the  elective  fran 
chise  and  the  responsibility  of  public  officers  are  in 
adequate,  the  remedy  is  extra-constitutional  —  resistance 
and  revolution.  The  language  of  our  people,  as  ex 
pressed  by  their  representatives,  touching  the  fatal  de 
lusion  pervading  the  ordinance  and  legislation  of  South 
Carolina,  is  that  while  they  entertain  the  kindest  feel 
ings  towards  the  people  of  that  State,  '  with  whom 
they  stood,  side  by  side,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
and  in  whose  defence  their  blood  was  freely  spilt/ 
they  will  not  falter  in  their  allegiance,  but  will  be 
found,  now  as  then,  true  to  their  country  and  its  Gov 
ernment  ;  and  they  pledge  themselves  to  support  that 
Government  i-n  the  exercise  of  all  its  constitutional 
rights,  and  in  the  discharge  of  all  its  constitutional 
duties.  These  resolutions,  proclaiming  as  they  do  the 
sentiments  of  gentlemen  of  all  political  parties,  do  not 
instruct  me  to  adopt  them  as  my  political  text-book, 
but  leave  me,  untrammeled  by  any  mandate,  to  follow 
the  course  which  my  own  judgment  may  dictate  in 
relation  to  the  whole  subject. 

"  But,    sir,    my     sentiments     were    no    secret    to   the 


56  Mf-.MOIR    Of- 

people  who  spoke  thus  by  their  constitutional  organ, 
the  legislative  body.  When  principles  directly  repug 
nant  to  these  were  first  advocated  within  the  walls  of 
this  chamber,  though  fresh  in  my  seat  here,  my  voice 
was  raised  against  them.  The  first  effort  that  was 
ever  made  here  to  support  the  present  Carolina  doctrine 
of  nullification  by  a  State  Convention,  made  by  the 
gentlemen  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Grundy),  now  a  happy 
convert  to  much  of  my  political  catechism,  and  sus 
tained  with  a  degree  of  ability  which  has  hardly  been 
surpassed  in  this  debate,  was  opposed  by  me  while 
feebly  pressing  the  adversary  principles  now  inculcated 
in  the  declaration  of  Delaware,  to  which  I  have  ad 
verted.  It  is  my  business,  sir,  to  reassure  that  honor 
able  member  of  the  truth  of  his  new  articles  of  faith  ; 
'and  to  tell  him,  too,  that  however  unfashionable  t  these 
tenets  were  at  the  time  of  our  ancient  controversy, 
there  is  now  no  other  mode  known  among  men 
whereby  he  can  be  politically  saved. 

"  It  has  so  happened,  sir,  that  the  principles  with 
which  I  entered  public  life,  and  with  which,  by  the 
blessing  of » God,  I  will  live  and  die  —  the  same  prin 
ciples  for  which  I  and  my  political  friends  have  been 
contending  during  the  whole  period  of  my  service  in 
the  Senate,  have  been  discovered  by  the  President,  in 
this  perilous  crisis  of  our  public  affairs,  to  be  the  only 
truly  conservative  principles  of  the  Constitution.  *  As 
one  of  those  who  have  steadily  but  unsuccessfully  op 
posed  what  in  my  conscience  I  believe  to  have  been 
usurpations  of  Executive  and  State  power  —  doctrines 
leading  to  the  present  disastrous  results,  as  I  have 
often  predicted,  in  reference  to  the  veto  message  of 
the  last  session,  and  the  whole  course  of  our  recent 
national  policy  towards  the  State  of  Georgia  —  true  now, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  6/ 

sir,  to  the  same  principles,  I  find  myself  by  a  sudden 
revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  the  Administration  on 
this  subject,  anxiously  supporting  its  very  strongest  meas 
ures.  At  the  same  time,  I  find  the  President,  without  the 
aid  of  those  friends  with  whom  it  has  ever  been  my 
pride  to  be  associated  in  the  political  divisions 
which  have  agitated  this  body,  sustained  only  by  a  very 
small  and  hopeless  minority  of  the  American  Senate. 
*  But  my  support  of  this  measure  (alluding 
to  the  reason  given  by  Mr.  Wilkins,  of  Pennsylvania, 
for  his)  is  predicated  on  no  servile  submission  to  any 
Executive  mandate,  on  no  implicit  and  unlimited  faith 
in  any  man.  I  will  clothe  the  Executive  with  all 
constitutional  power  necessary  to  secure  the  faithful 
execution  ot  the  laws,  and  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  I  will  confer  stronger  authority  on  the  Chief 
Magistrate,  because  I  can  find  no  other  chance  of 
salvation  for  my  country ;  and  I  will  not  be  deterred 
from  the  adoption  of  this  measure  by  any  consideration 
of  the  source  from  which  it  has  emanated,  or  because 
an  unworthy  reason  has  been  advanced  by  others  to 
sustain  it.  Whatever  beauties  the  chairman  may  dis 
cover  in  this  part  of  his  own  argument,  whatever  for 
eign  missions  or  splendid  offices  may  now  glitter  in 
the  vista  to  dazzle  and  delight  the  visions  of  others, 
I  see  and  wish  to  see  no  prospect  of  political  ad 
vancement,  arising  out  of  this  sudden  revolution  in 
Executive  opinion,  for  any  member  of  that  proud  oppo 
sition  which  has  so  long  and  so  stubbornly  maintained 
its  lofty  independence  of  character,  and  so  triumphantly 
vindicated  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  rn  the 
halls  of  the  Capitol  of  this  country.  If  it  be  true  that, 
in  the  honorable  discharge  of  our  sacred  duty  here, 
we  have  committed  the  sin,  hitherto  deemed  unpar- 


gg  MEMOIR    OF 

donable,  against  that  being  who  is  so  prominent  an 
object  of  the  humble  adoration  of  others,  let  that  sin 
remain  unexpiated  by  any  atonement  which  we  now 
have  to  offer;  and  should  political  death  be  the  pun 
ishment  to  be  inflicted  upon  us  for  our  transgressions, 
let  us  at  least  perish  hoping  nothing  from  the  smiles, 
and  fearing  nothing  from  the  frowns,  of  Executive 
power. 

"  Nor,  sir,  as  1  trust,  will  any  man  here  who  has 
ever  justly  laid  claim  to  the  honorable  title  of  'Na 
tional  Republican'  (the  party  name  of  the  opposition  at 
that  time)  be  prevented  from  giving  a  liberal  support 
to  this  bill,  by  the  general  denunciation  of  it  as  a 
Federal  measure.  We  well  know  that  this  same  inge 
nious  stratagem  has  been  resorted  to  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  alternately  to  elevate  or  depress  the  lead 
ing  demagogues  in  this  country.  The  best  possible  plan 
to  escape  the  force  of  reason,  is  to  appeal  to  the 
ignorant  prejudices  of  mankind.  One  who  has  engaged 
in  this  debate  traces,  by  the  aid  of  the  'most  marvel 
lous  powers  of  combination  and  deduction,  the  origin 
of  the  nullifying  resolutions  of  Kentucky,  in  1798,  and 
their  kindred  resolutions  of  Virginia,  adopted  in  the 
same  era,  to  the  old  Federal  party !  An  ingenious 
modern  writer,  sir,  has  derived  the  word  '  cucumber' 
from  'Jeremiah  King;'  but  even  his  praises  might  well 
remain  unsung,  while  the  sup'erior  ingenuity  of  the 
author  of  this  charge  against  the  men  of  other  days, 
should,  by  bard  and  minstrel,  be  celebrated  in  Hudi- 
brastic  lays  for  the  admiration  of  the  world.  The  Ken 
tucky  resolutions,  which  gave  birth  to  the  whole  heresy 
of  nullification,  are  entitled  to  no  respect,  whether  we 
consider  the  time  of  their  adoption,  or  the  mere  object 
for  which  they  were  drawn.  They  were  written  by  a 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  5g 

candidate  for  office,  in  a  period  of  high  party  excite 
ment,  for  the  very  purpose  of  securing  his  own  election. 
They  were  well  calculated  to  intimidate  political  oppo 
nents  by  the  threat  of  ultimate  disunion  in  the  event 
of  his  defeat,  and  as  such  they  were  denounced  by 
many  of  the  other  States,  at  the  time  and  in  the 
strongest  language.  They  slept  on  the  shelf  after  they 
had  done  their  office,  without  an  effort  on  the  part  of 
anybody  to  vindicate  the  principles  contained  in  them, 
until  after  the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  when  they  were 
awakened  by  the  trumpet  of  discord  resounding  again 
throughout  this  happy  country.  I  say,  sir,  that  no  con 
siderable  effort  was  made  to  defend  them,  or  their  revo 
lutionary  principles,  from  1800  till  the  passage  of  the 
tariff  act  of  1824.  Yet  they  were  assailed  and  de 
nounced  in  the  hearing  of  the  very  men  who,  if  they 
had  been  deemed  defensible,  ought  to  have  been  the 
first  to  stand  forth  in  their  defence.  In  the  debate  on 
the  Judiciary,  in  1802,  Mr.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  having 
barely  so  far  alluded  to  the  subject  as  to  mention 
the  determination  of  the  Federal  Courts  —  that  they 
are  judges  in  the  last  resort  of  the  constitutionality 
of  your  laws  —  to  prove  what  he  called  their  unlimited 
claims  to  power,  was  promptly  met,  in  reply,  on  the 
whole  question  by  Mr.  Bayard,  who  indicated  the  true 
principles  of  the  Constitution  against  the  then  recent 
and  arrogant  pretensions  of  State  usurpation,  by  what 
soever  name  it  may  be  called  —  State  veto,  State  in 
terposition,  or  State  tyranny.  Entrenched  behind  the 
very  principles  we  now  advocate,  he  threw  the  gauntlet 
to  any  champion  on  the  other  side  who  might  choose 
to  venture  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  avowed  in  those 
resolutions.  Sir,  no  one  then  appeared  in  the  lists  to 
accept  that  challenge.  The  resolutions,  which  might 


JQ  MEMOIR   OF 

have  been  fairly  claimed  as  covering  the  whole  ground 
of  this  part  of  the  debate,  were  not  even  named,  much 
less*  defended,  or  held  up  as  authority,  by  any  one. 
They  had  served  their  purposes,  sir.  The  party  that 
framed  them  was  seated  in  power,  and  it  was  their 
interest  to  neglect  and  despise  them." 

In  a  subsequeft  paragraph,  recurring  to  the  subject 
of  the  resolutions,  he  says: 

"  In  opposition  to  all  the  authorities,  honorable  gen 
tlemen  quote  the  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  and  the 
report  on  them  of  1799.  Mr.  Madison,  who  has  lately 
explained  a  report  of  which  he  was  himself  the  author, 
is  considered  by  them  as  not  now  understanding  what 
he  himself  wrote;  and  we  are  told  that  Virginia  alone 
can  expound  what  she  meant  by  her  resolutions. 
While  I  utterly  deny  her  right  to  expound  for  the 
rest  of  the  world  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ; 
while  I  hold  lightly  even  her  own  resolutions,  drawn  and 
sent  out,  as  I  shall  ever  believe,  chiefly  for  their  po 
litical  effect  in  a  pending  contest  for  political  power 
between  herself  and  another  section  of  the  country ; 
I  say  to  her  representatives  here,  if  she  meant  in  1798 
or  1799  to  deny  the  power  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
arrogate  to  herself  the  authority  to  decide,  in  the  last 
constitutional  resort,  on  the  laws  of  Congress,  or  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  she  has  repealed  her 
resolutions  by  still  later  resolutions  in  reply  to  those 
of  Pennsylvania  in  regard  to  the  Olmstead  case.  My 
honorable  friend  from  New  Jersey  (Mr.  Frelinghuysen) 
has  shown  us  that  when  Pennsylvania  proposed  in 
1810  to  amend  the  Constitution  by  appointing  an  ar- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  yl 

biter  between  the  decisions  of  the  States  and  the  Gen 
eral  Government,  Virginia,  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  of  her  Legislature,  in  answer  to  the  proposition, 
referred  Pennsylvania  to  the  court  as  the  only  arbiter, 
and  recognized  the  very  principles  against  which  one 
of  the  Virginia  representatives  (Mr.  Tyler)  is  now  con 
tending.  Be  it  the  part  of  others  to  attempt  to  ex 
onerate  her  from  the  charge  of  inconsistency  at  these 
different  periods  —  that  is  no  task  of  mine.  I  think 
with  the  Senator  from  Maine  (Mr.  Holmes),  that  when 
she  has  been  in  power,  as  she  was  in  1810,  she  has 
generally  been  a  safe  expounder  of  the  Constitution ; 
but  that  her  political  expositions,  made  when  out  of 
power,  and  struggling  to  obtain  it,  as  she  was  in  1798, 
should  form  no  laws  for  others,  as  we  know  they  have 
been  disregarded  by  herself.  The  Senator  from  Virginia 
really  endeavors  to  nullify  the  resolutions  of  his  own 
State,  in  reply  to  the  proposition  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Tyler  having  said  in  the  course  of  his 
speech,  "  I  deny  that  I  am  a  citizen  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  deny  that  I 
am  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,"  Clayton  replied  : 

"  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  bandy  useless 
metaphysical  distinctions  with  any  member  here.  He 
is  as  much  a  citizen  of  this  Government  as  a  French 
man  is  a  citizen  of  the  Government  of  France,  or  an 
Englishman  of  the  Government  of  his  country.  But 
all  the  acknowledgment  I  desire  of  the  honorable 
gentleman,  in  order  to  compel  him  to  admit  the  jus 
tice  of  the  principles  upon  which  this  bill  is  founded, 
is  that  he  and  all  those  upon  whom  the  bill  is  in- 


72  MEMOIR   OF 

tended  to  operate,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
When  the  gentleman  has  made  that  admission,  in  vain 
will'  he  contend  that  his  obligations  to  Virginia  are 
higher  than  those  which  he  owes  to  the  Federal 
Government ;  in  vain  will  he  contend  that  his  most 
valuable  rights  are  best  secured  to  him  by  the  State. 
Were  Virginia  the  separate  nation  which  his  argument 
would  make  her  appear  to  be,  her  citizens  would 
soon  find  the  difference  between  that  protection  which 
they  now  enjoy  as  citizens  of  our  common  country, 
and  such  protection  as  she  could  give  them.  High 
as  she  now  justly  stands  among  her  sister  States, 
forming,  with  them,  an  impregnable  bulwark  for  all 
our  countrymen  against  foreign  aggression,  she  would, 
single-handed,  make  but  a  very  sorry  figure  in  a 
contest  with  any  considerable  foreign  power. 

"  Sir,  were  it  not  for  sheer  compassion  toward 
some  of  those  gentlemen  who  indulge  us,  so  often, 
with  extravagant  declamation  about  State  power  and 
State  supremacy,  it  would  be  well  to  ring  the  truth 
daily  in  their  ears,  until  they  are  cured  of  these  dis 
eased  imaginations,  that  neither  the  Old  Dominion 
nor  even  the  Empire  State,  herself,  could  singly  and 
successfully  measure  strength  with  one  of  the  second- 
rate  powers  of  Europe.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia, 
who  has  filled  his  present  station  with  so  much  honor 
to  himself  and  usefulness  to  his  country,  denies  that 
he  is  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  asserts  that 
he  is  only  a  Senator  of  Virginia.  ,He  denies  the 
very  existence  of  such  a  character  as  that  of  a  Sena 
tor  of  the  United  States.  Each  member  here,  in  his 
view,  is  bound  to  legislate  for  his  own  State,  and  can 
represent  no  other.  But  where  is  the  clause  in  the 
Constitution  which  recognizes  a  Senator  of  Virginia, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON  y  ^ 

of  Delaware,  or  any  other  single  State,  in  this  hali  ? 
This  is  not  the  Senate  of  Virginia,  but  of  the  United 
States.  The  honorable  member  says  that  he  acts 
here  only  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  Virginia ; 
that  he  yields  obedience  to  this  Government  only  be 
cause  Virginia  wills  it.  The  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States  have  no  binding  force  with  him 
from  any  other  cause  than  this  —  that  Virginia  com 
mands  him  to  obey  them.  The  result  of  all  this 
doctrine  is,  that  whenever  Virginia  wills  it,  he  will 
violate  this  Constitution,  and  set  these  laws  at  defiance. 
In  opposition  to  all  this,  hear  the  creed  of  a  National 
Republican  :  J  obey  this  Constitution,  and  act  as  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States  under  it,  because  I  have 
sworn  to  support  that  Constitution.  I  hold  myself 
bound,  while  acting  in  my  station  here,  to  legislate 
for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  country,  not  merely  for 
that  of  any  section  of  it ;  and  in  the  discharge  of 
my  duty,  I  will  look  abroad  throughout  this  wide 
republic,  never  sacrificing  the  interests  of  any  one 
part  of  it  to  gratify  another,  but  always  dealing  out 
and  distributing  equal  justice  to'  all  my  countrymen 
wherever  they  may  be  located,  or  by  whatever  title 
they  may  be  distinguished  from  each  other. 

Closing  his  speech,  he  said  (referring  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn) : 

"The  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has 
told  us  that  all  human  institutions,  like  those  who 
formed  them,  contain  within  themselves  the  elements 
of  their  own  destruction;  and  that  our  Government  is 
now  exhibiting  their  operation.  To  this  general  philo- 


74  .M1-.M01R    Ol- 

sophic  remark,  I  should  not  have  objected  but  for  its 
application.  All  the  works  of  man  are  destined  to 
decay;  but  while  the  American  people  shall  remain  true 
to  themselves,  their  Government  cannot  be  destroyed  ; 
for  it  contains,  within  itself,  endless  and  ever  renascent 
energies,  which  must  bring  it  out  in  triumph,  and  with 
Andean  vigor,  in  despite  of  every  effort  to  overthrow 
it.  From  foreign  force  it  has  nothing  to  fear:  it  dreads 
nothing  now  from  any  section  of  this  Union  which 
shall  seek  to  prevent  the  just  operation  of  our  laws 
by  foreign  intervention.  Yes,  sir,  a  foreign  alliance, 
sought  by  any  member  of  this  confederacy,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  war  upon  us,  would*  be  the  means, 
under  Heaven,  of  immediately  rallying  every  patriot, 
of  every  political  party,  under  the  broad  banner  of  the 
Republic.  Popular  virtue,  however,  is  the  only  safe 
basis  of  popular  government.  This  is  the  '  fountain  from 
the  which  our  current  runs,  or  bears  no  life' ;  and  I 
concede  that  the  mortal  blow  to  the  liberties  of  this 
country  may,  at  last,  be  struck  by  the  hand  of  one 
who  has  been  indebted  to  it  for  existence.  The  shaft 
which  shall  stretch  the  American  eagle  bleeding  and 
lifeless  in  the  dust,  must  be  feathered  from  his  own 
bright  pinions ;  and  bitter  will  be  the  curses  of  men, 
in  all  ages  to  come,  against  the  traitorous  heart  and 
the  parricidal*  hand  of  him  who  shall  loose  that  fatal 
arrow  from  the  string ! 

"  '  Remember   him,  the   villain,  righteous    Heaven, 
In   thy  great  day  of  vengeance!  Blast   the   traitor 
And   his   pernicious  counsels,  who,  for  wealth, 
For  power,  the  pride  of  greatness,  or   revenge, 
Would  plunge  his   native  land  in  civil   war.'   " 

By    the    aid    of    himself    and    most    of    his    political 
friends    the    bill    for    the    collection    of    duties    on    im- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTOX. 


75 


ports  became  a  law ;  and  its  passage  was  looked  upon, 
by  the  trembling  friends  of  republican  government 
throughout  the  world,  as  the  signal  for  civil  war.  It 
was  at  this  moment  —  big  with  the  fate  of  the  Gov 
ernment  —  that  Mr.  Clayton  bent  his  whole  energies 
upon  the  passage  of  the  Compromise  Bill  prepared  by 
Mr.  Clay,  as  the  only  means  left  of  saving  the  Union 
of  States,  and  that  protective  system  without  which,  as 
he  thought,  that  Union  was  robbed  of  its  greeting 
blessing.  It  is  understood  that  while  the  bill  was  yet 
sleeping  on  the  files  of  the  Senate,  he  privately  in 
cited  Mr.  Clay  to  renewed  and  more  vigorous  action 
in  its  behalf.  He  convened  a  meeting  of  such  of  his 
brother  Senators  as  were  impelled  by  the  same  motives 
that  actuated  him,  to  decide  that  question,  which  had 
now  become  of  such  thrilling  importance  to  the  whole 
country,  whether  any,  and,  if  any,  what  part  of  the 
then  existing  tariff  should  be  surrendered  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Union.  No  man  whose  name  had  ever 
been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Presidency  was 
admitted  to  that  meeting.  Neither  Mr.  Clay,  nor  Mr. 
Webster,  nor  Mr.  Calhoun ;  but  half  the  New  England 
Senators,  with  both  the  Senators  from  this  State,  were 
among  those  who  took  part  in  its  deliberations.  They, 
finally,  resolved  that  if  certain  amendments  were  adopt-  ' 
ed,  to  the  bill,  as  it  then  stood  —  among  which  the 
principle  of  assessing  the  duties  on  imports  at  the 
home  instead  of  the  foreign  value  of  them,  was  the 
most  important  and  a  sine  qua  non  —  they  would  vote 
for  the  bill ;  but  that  if  any  one  of  the  nullifying  Sen- 


76  MEMOIR    OF 

ators  should  refuse  to  vote  for  each  of  these  amend 
ments,  or  should  not  support  the  bill  on  its  final 
passage,  they  would  reject  the  compromise,  and  hence 
forth  look  only  to  arms  as  the  means  of  restoring  the 
peace  of  the  country.  While  these  things  were  going 
on,  Mr.  Clay  moved  a  reference  of  his  Compromise 
Bill  to  a  committee  of  seven  members ;  and  the 
Speaker  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate,  Hugh  L.  White,  of 
Tennessee,  was  called  upon,  by  every  patriotic  consid 
eration,  to  select  the  most  efficient  members  of  the 
body  over  which  he  presided,  to  compose  the  com 
mittee.  He  faithfully  performed  that  duty ;  and  by  that 
act,  if  he  had  never  done  any  thing  else  for  his  coun 
try,  he  merited  the  eternal  gratitude  of  his  countrymen. 
The  members  of  the  committee  were  —  Mr.  Clay, 
ch'airman,  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Clayton,  Mr. 
Rives,  Mr.  Grundy,  and  Mr.  Dallas.  What  illustrious 
names  ! 

And  here,  it  is  but  proper  to  observe,  a  singular 
incident  occurred,  worthy  of  being  recorded  in  con 
nection  with  the  history  of  this  famous  act.  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  who  it  seems  kept  up  a  constant  sur 
veillance  over  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  received, 
by  some  means,  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  com 
mittee  but  a  few  moments  after  their  appointment  had 
been  publicly  announced,  and  immediately  dispatched 
a  message  to  the  President  of  the  Senate,  Mr. 
White,  demanding  of  him  the  erasure  of  Mr.  Clay 
ton's  name  from  the  list  of  the  committee  men,  on 
the  avowed  ground  that  Mr.  Clayton  was  an  open 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  y>j 

friend  of  Mr.  Clay  and  his  bill,  and  an  opponent  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  his  projet,  then 
pending  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Mr.  White 
replied,  that  he  had  appointed  Mr.  Clayton  a  member 
of  the  committee  solely  from  the  conviction  that  he 
was  a  man  of  integrity  and  great  ability,  and  without 
reference  to  his  relations,  or  friendships,  to  others.  It 
seems,  however,  that  the  President  was  not  satisfied 
with  this,  and  that  he  was  resolved  to  defeat  the 
passage  of  the  Compromise  Act  by  excluding  from  the 
committee  Mr.  Clayton,  whose  influence  with  his  brother 
Senators  was  perfectly  understood  at  the  time.  Mr. 
White  was  sent  for,  and  attended  at  the  Executive 
Mansion  —  the  Senate  having  adjourned  after  the  ap 
pointment  of  the  committee  in  the  evening ;  and  until 
a  late  hour  of  that  night  the  President  pressed  upon 
the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  the  importance  of 
inserting  another  name,  in  lieu  of  Mr.  Clayton's,  on 
the  committee  to  which  was  now  entrusted  the  fate 
both  of  the  protective  system  and  the  Union  of  the 
States.  To  the  great  honor  of  Hugh  L.  White,  he 
refused  to  make  any  change,  preferring  what  he  con 
sidered  the  interests  of  his  country,  to  the  favor  of 
its  Chief  Magistrate  in  his  palmiest  days  of  power. 
He  would  not  yield  to  Executive  behests  He  felt, 
doubtless,  that  when  the  time  should  arrive  that  the 
President  could  control  the  legislature  of  the  country 
by  directing  the  appointment  of  the  committees,  and 
especially  upon  an  occasion  so  momentous  as  the 
present,  the  Constitution  would  virtually  be  at  an  end, 

10 


_y  MEMOIR    OF 

:     ° 

and  the  President  substantially  a  monarch.  He,  in 
vain,  told  the  President  that  a  defeat  of  the  Compro 
mise  Act  would  be  followed  by  civil  war,  the  shedding 
of  American  blood  by  American  hands,  and  the  de 
struction  of  the  Union.  But  when  his  arguments  had 
failed,  he  closed  this  midnight  consultation  with  the 
avowal  of  his  stern  determination  not  to  change  the 
committee.  Whoever  is  curious  to  look  into  this  part 
of  the  history  of  the  Compromise  Act,  will  be  interested 
by  perusing  the  evidence  taken  by  a  committee  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  a 
few  years  after.  It  was  a  committee  to  investigate 
the  abuses  of  legislative  power ;  ajid  Henry  A.  Wise, 
of  Virginia,  was  its  chairman.  In  the  report  of  that 
committee  he  will  see  the  affidavit  of  the  Hon.  Hugh 
L.  White,  before  mentioned,  who  was  called  upon  by 
that  committee  and  compelled  on  oath  to  disclose  the 
extraordinary  facts  to  which  reference  is  here  made. 
If  he  will  look  into  the  public  prints  of  that  day 
he  will  also  see  that,  not  long  after  the  publication 
of  the  report  of  the  committee,  the  President  attacked 
Mr.  White  in  the  newspapers  on  account  of  his  dis 
closure,  alleging  that  there  never  was  any  personal 
hostility  between  himself  and  Mr.  Clayton,  or  any 
feeling  which  could  have  had  induced  him  to  have 
acted  such  a  part  towards  that  gentleman.  But  Mr. 
White  replied  to  him  through  the  same  channel  of 
communication,  and  in  the  most  solemn  manner  re 
asserted  the  truth  of  every  word  he  had  uttered. 
The  committee,  as  organized  by  Mr.  White,  met 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  JQ 

again  and  again,  without  any  successful  results.  Mr. 
Clayton  pressed  the  amendments  proposed  at  the  meet 
ing  had  with  his  friends,  before  referred  to;  and  they 
were  all  rejected,  a  majority  of  five  out  of  seven  voting 
against  them  in  committee.  Mr.  Clayton  and  Mr.  Clay 
were  the  two  who  voted  for  them.  After  repeated 
meetings  of  the  committee,  it  was  finally  agreed,  by  a 
majority  of  four  against  three,  to  report  the  bill  with 
out  amendment;  although  every  one  was  perfectly  con 
scious  that,  unless  the  amendments  were  adopted,  the 
bill  could  scarcely  obtain  the  votes  of  one-third  of 
the  Senate.  The  enemies  of  the  Compromise  were  thus 
far  triumphant ;  bu.t  their  success  was  destined  to  be 
of  short  duration.  Mr.  Clayton  desiring,  for  obvious 
reasons,  that  Mr.  Clay  should  assume  the  paternity  of 
the  whole  of  that  great  measure  which  he  had  origi 
nated,  requested  him  to  move  the  amendments  when 
the  bill  reported  to  the  Senate  should  be  before  that 
body  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole.  The  motion  was 
accordingly  made  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  a  warm  debate 
followed,  especially  upon  the  principle  of  assessing  the 
duties  upon  the  'home  value  of  articles  of  importation, 
in  the  midst  of  which  Mr.  Calhoun  and  others  of  his 
way  of  thinking,  having  declared  their  determination  to 
vote  against  this  part  of  the  amendment  as  unconsti 
tutional,  Mr.  Clayton  arose  and  solemnly  moved  to  lay 
the  bill  on  the  table,  without  any  intention  to  call  it 
up  again  during  the  session,  —  at  the  time  avowing  that 
the  friends  with  whom  he  was  acting,  as  well  as  him 
self,  would  never  consent  to  pass  the  bill,  while  a  sin- 


go  MEMOIR    OF 

gle  Senator  of  the  peculiar  views  of  Mr.  Calhoun  re 
fused  to  record  his  vote  in  favor  of  this  part  of  the 
amendments,  —  that  the  principle  of  assessing  the  duties 
at  the  home,  instead  of  the  foreign,  value,  the  conces 
sion  of  which  in  the  most  unequivocal  form  was  now 
demanded  from  those  who  had  advocated  the  nullifi 
cation  of  the  tariff,  was  a  sine  qua  non,  and  unless  it 
were  conceded-  at  this  stage  of  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
they  would  now  lay  the  bill  on  the  table,  where  it 
would  sleep  to  wake  no  more.  At  this  moment  sev 
eral  Senators  from  the  South  in  vain  urged  that,  if 
permitted  to  vote  against  the  amendment  providing  for 
the  home  valuation,  as  they  desired  to  do,  there  being 
a  majority  in  favor  of  the  principle,  it  would  still  be 
incorporated  in  the  bill ;  and  that  on  the  final  passage 
of  the  bill  they  would  all  record  their  votes  in  its 
favor,  and  thus  of  course  for  the  amendment  included 
in  it.  But  the  stern  answer  returned  by  the  friends  of 
the  tariff  was,  that  the  home  valuation  was  necessary 
for  the  protection  of  the  industry  of  the  people  ;  and 
it  was  then  that  Mr.  Clayton  made  the  declaration 
mentioned  —  that  he  would  pause  before  he  surrendered 
the  principle  of  protection,  even  to  save  the  Union. 
The  friends  of  protection  demanded  of  those  called 
nullifiers,  before  they  would  progress  with  the  compro 
mise  an  inch  further,  that  they  should  record  their 
votes  in  favor  of  the  home  valuation,  at  every  stage 
in  which  the  question  should  be  presented  —  that  the 
object  of  the  concessions  they  now  proposed,  was  to 
shut  the  mouth  of  every  one  who  should  offer  to  nul- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  gj 

lify  the  tariff  law,  in  all  time  to  come  —  that  to  permit 
them  to  vote  against  the  home  valuation,  on  the  mo 
tion  to  adopt  it  as  an  amendment  to  the  bill,  would 
be  to  open  the  door  for  those  gentlemen  to  contend 
against  it  as  unconstitutional,  and  to  nullify  again,  when 
the  principle  came  into  active  operation  —  that  the  votes 
of  all  the  nullifying  Senators  and  all  other  enemies  of 
the  tariff  must  now  be  recorded  in  favor  of  this  great 
principle,  which  would  secure  protection  to  American 
labor  in  the  Compromise  Act,  or  that  the  bill  should 
not  live  another  instant  after  any  one  of  them  had 
refused  to  compromise  on  these  terms. 

Pending  this  motion,  of  Mr.  Clayton,  to  kill  the  bill 
by  laying  it  upon  the  table,  after  a  brief  consultation 
with  some  gentlemen  from  the  South,  the  Hon.  George 

M.  Bibb,  of  Kentucky,  himself  a  nullifier,  requested  Mr. 

• 
Clayton    to    withdraw    his    motion,    for    the    purpose    of 

giving  time  to  reflect  on  the  issue  now  presented ; 
and  Mr.  Clayton  temporarily  withdrew  the  motion  for 
the  purpose  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bibb  ;  but  avowed  his 
determination  to  renew  it  the  next  morning,  if  the 
terms  proposed  by  himself  and  his  friends  were  not 
acceded  to ;  and  then,  immediately,  a  proposition  to 
adjourn  until  the  next  morning  was  moved  and  carried. 
After  a  night's  consultation,  it  was  in  vain  proposed 
that  the  compromise  should  be  passed  with  the  final 
vote  of  all  the  anti-tariff  Senators  recorded  in  its 
favor ;  but '  that  the  Senators  from  South  Carolina 
should  vote  against  the  pending  motion  to  introduce 
the  home  valuation  as  a  part  of  the  bill.  This  was 


g2  MEMOIR    OF 

sternly  refused  by  the  friends  of  the  tariff —  Mr.  Clay 
ton,  with  inflexible  determination,  persevering  in  his 
resolution  to  fix  the  bill  to  the  table,  if  either  of 
those  Senators  should  refuse  to  record  his  solemn 
vote  on  the  journal  in  favor  of  the  principle ;  without 
which,  he  contended,  the  bill  might  be  regarded  as 
an  abandonment  of  the  protective  policy,  of  which  he 
never  would  be  guilty ;  and  he  demanded  the  ayes 
and  noes  on  the  home  valuation,  which  were  forth 
with  ordered  to  be  taken.  The  issue  was  thus  brought 
home  to  the  South  in  a  way  which  could  not  be 
evaded.  Those  generous  spirits  in  the  Senate  who  had 
thus  offered  to  save  South  Carolina  from  the  conse 
quences  of  her  madness  and  folly,  and  who  had  thus 
proposed  to  surrender  every  thing  but  principle  to  avert 
the  horrors  of  a  civil  war,  and  to  save  the  blood  of 
their  countrymen,  now  stood  at  bay  with  the  enemies 
of  the  tariff,  and  refused  to  recede  an  inch  further; 
and  they  finally  gave  notice  to  Southern  gentlemen 
that  if,  after  all  they  had  offered,  the  compromise 
should  be  declined  by  South  Carolina,  they  would 
gather  around  the  standard  of  the  President,  to  sup 
press  any  infraction  of  the  revenue  laws,  with  the 
whole  power  of  the  nation,  —  that  if  war  ensued,  they 
would  join  the  party  of  the  Executive  in  voting  every 
dollar  in  the  treasury  to  enable  the  President  to  crush 
the  rebellion,  —  and  that  they  would  not  hesitate 
to  insure  the  triumph  of  the  laws  even  if  they  were 
driven  to  tax  the  people  of  the  United  States,  so 
long  as  a  dollar  should  be  remaining. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  83 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  vote  being  called, 
it  appears,  from  the  journal,  that  every  Southern  anti- 
tariff  Senator,  whether  nullifier  or  not,  including  both 
of  those  from  South  Carolina,  recorded  his  vote  in  fa 
vor  of  the  home  valuation,  as  well  as  all  the  other  amend 
ments  noiv  moved  by  Mr.  Clay ;  and  then  the  ques 
tion  coming  before  the  Senate  on  the  engrossment  of 
the  bill,  as  thus  amended,  a  spirited  and  warm  debate 
occurred,  in  which  Mr.  Webster,  with  Mr.  Dallas  and 
others,  opposed  the  bill,  which  was  advocated  by  Mr. 
Clay,  assisted  by  Mr.  Clayton ;  at  the  expiration  of 
which,  the  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a 
third  reading  by  a  vote  so  overwhelming  that  all  further 
opposition  to  it  was  abandoned  as  hopeless. 

Notwithstanding  the  compromise,  the  Executive  took 
the  earliest  opportunity  to  show  its  real  hostility  to 
the  tariff,  even  as  thus  arranged.  ft  is  believed  that 
the  friends  of  the  tariff,  who  voted  for  that  act,  never 
imagined  that  it  would  be  construed  to  abolish  the 
whole  system  of  minimums  in  previous  laws,  which 
constituted  the  surest  basis  of  protection  to  American 
industry.  Yet  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on  the 
2Oth  of  April,  1833,  about  six  weeks  after  the  passage 
of  the  law,  issued  a  circular  to  the  officers  of  the 
customs,  fixing  such  a  construction  on  the  law  as 
abolished  the  minimums  altogether.  This  was  the  first 
and  most  destructive  blow  aimed  at  protection  of  home 
labor.  There  was  nothing  in  that  act  to  warrant  it. 
But  the  Secretary,  proceeding  upon  an  arbitrary  dis 
tinction  between  the  assumed  and  the  real  value  of 


84 


MEMOIR    OJ- 


articles  of  import,  without  submitting  the  matter  to  the 
judgment  of  any  judicial  tribunal,  and  without  consul 
tation  with  any  of  the  friends  of  the  law,  struck  down 
at  one  blow  all  the  manufactures  of  the  country 
whose  existence  depended  upon  the  preservation  of  the 
minimum  principle.  It  was  impossible  for  the  friends 
of  protection  to  bring  the  Secretary's  construction  of 
the  act  to  the  test  of  a  judicial  decision  ;  because  the 
Government,  whose  duty  it  was,  as  the  only  party  in 
terested,  to  controvert  the  Secretary's  opinion,  had  not 
sufficient  interest  in  the  manufacturing  system  to  make 
a  case  in  court  to  ascertain  the  true  meaning  of  the 
law.  In  addition  to  this,  the  party  in  Congress  sup 
porting  the  Executive,  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  re 
fused  to  pass  any  further  act  providing  the  details  of 
a  plan  of  home  valuation  ;  and  every  Secretary  of  that 
and  the  next  following  Administration  omitted  to  make 
any  Treasury  regulations,  in  pursuance  of  which  the 
duties,  at  the  proper  time,  should  be  assessed  on  the 
domestic  value  of  the  articles  imported. 

This  was  the  condition  of  things  in  1841,  when 
the  Whigs  came  into  power.  They  found  that  the 
Compromise  Act  had  not  been  obeyed,  as  they  con 
ceived,  by  their  predecessors,  and  they  justly  declined 
any  longer  to  submit  to  a  state  of  things  in  which 
one  of  the  parties  to  the  compromise  absolutely  re 
fused  to  fulfil  its  part  of  the  engagement.  Contrary, 
as  they  thought,  to  its  own  plain  meaning,  and  the 
intentions  of  the  framers  of  the  act,  it  had  become 
the  means  of  oppressing,  instead  of  protecting,  Ameri- 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  85 

can  manufactures.  The  Whig  party  therefore  repealed 
it  in  1842,  by  the  passage  of  another  act,  which, 
shortly,  became  so  firmly  established  in  the  regard  of 
the  people  as  not  to  be  in  any  sense  shaken  by  the 
ordinance  of  nullification.  Reason  reassumed  her  em 
pire  over  the  minds  of  our  countrymen ;  the  period 
of  peril  to  the  Union  of  the  States  passed  away,  and 
the  protective  system  became  again  in  full  operation, 
having  escaped  the  odium  of  that  accusation,  which 
would  have  crushed  it,  that  it  could  be  preserved  only 
by  the  bloodshed  of  American  citizens. 

Before  this  important  subject  of  the  compromise  of 
1833  is  dismissed,  a  fallacy  must  be  noticed,  which 
prevailed  to  a  considerable  extent  among  certain  un 
informed  persons,  that  the  Compromise  Act  did  neces 
sarily  reduce  the  duties  on  imported  articles,  at  the 
end  of  nine  years  from  its  passage,  to  twenty  per  cent. 
The  greatest  reduction  of  duties  contemplated  by  the 
act,  was  that  point  in  the  descending  scale  where  the 
amount  collected  had  to  be  the  sum  necessary  to  an 
economical  administration  of  the  Government,  no  matter 
what  the  rate  of  duty  might  be  over  twenty  per  cent. 
That  point  was  reached  long  before  the  passage  of 
the  act  of  1842.  The  Government  had  actually  become 
bankrupt  in  credit  in  1840.  A  heavy  national  debt 
(for  that  time)  had  been  incurred,  to  pay  which  no 
money  had  been  provided.  The  Government  loans  were 
below  par  in  the  home  market,  and  our  credit  was  so 
low  that  foreigners  refused  to  lend  us  a  dollar.  Yet 
the  Administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  before  it  was 


36  MEMOIR    OF 

i 
overthrown,  gave    no    heed    to    another    pledge    in    the 

Compromise  Act,  and  omitted  to  arrest  the  reduction 
of  duties,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  wants  of 
Government.  This  fact  shows  with  how  bad  a  grace 
the  friends  of  the  tariff  of  1842  were  charged  with 
having  violated  the  Compromise  Act  of  1833. 


THE  LAND  BILL. 

Mr.  Clayton  was  an  active  advocate  of  the  Land 
Bill,  which  was  passed  at  this  important  session  of 
1833.  It  was,  indeed,  a  measure,  the  adoption  of  which 
assisted  to  procure  the  passage  of  the  compromise  it 
self;  and  may  be  said  to  form  part  and  parcel  of  the 
compromise.  So  far  back  as  the  year  1830,  Mr.  Clay 
ton,  in  his  speech  on  the  4th  of  March  of  that  year, 
strongly  advocated  the  right  of  the  old  States  to  a 
share  of  the  public  lands  ;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  ex 
plaining  the  principles  with  respect  to  a  subject  so 
important,  the  following  extract  is  copied  from  that 
speech : 

"  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  I  cannot  vote  for 
this  bill  (the  bill  to  graduate  the  price  of  the  public 
lands,  to  make  provisions  for  actual  settlers,  and  to  cede 
the  residue  to  the  States  in  which  they  lie).  Accord 
ing  to  my  mode  of  considering  it,  it  is  a  proposition 
to  give  away  the  birthright  of  our  people  for  a  nomi 
nal  sum ;  and  I  am  yet  to  learn  that  the  citizens  of 
the  Middle  States  have  indicated  any  feeling  in  regard 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  87 

to  it,  differing  from  that  expressed  in  the  vote  re 
ferred  to  —  "fltfien,  with  a  single  exception,  all  the 
Senators,  representing  States  north  of  Mason  and  Dix- 
on's  line,  opposed  the  measure.  They  do  not  look  to 
these  lands,  as  has  been  unjustly  stated,  with  the  eye 
of  an  unfeeling  landholder  who  parts  with  acres  as  a 
miser  parts  with  his  gold.  They  view  the  new  States 
as  younger  sisters  of  the  same  family,  upon  an  equal 
footing  with  themselves,  and  entitled  to  an  .equal  share 
of  the  patrimony ;  but  having  children  to  educate,  and 
numerous  wants  to  be  supplied,  they  will  think  it  un 
generous,  unjust,  and  oppressive,  should  these  younger 
sisters  take  away  the  whole.  Sir,  it  is  the  inheritance 
which  descended  from  oijr  forefathers,  who  wrested  a 
part  of  it  from  the  British  crown,  at  the  expense  of 
their  blood  and  treasure ;  and  paid  for  the  rest  of  it 
by  the  earnings  of  their  labor.  It  is  not  for  me  to 
say  what  are  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  Middle 
States  on  the  subject.  But  it  is  their  privilege  to 
speak  for  themselves,  and  they  will,  doubtless,  when 
they  think  it  necessary,  exercise  that  privilege.  Yet  I 
will  say  that  if  they  entertain  the  sentiments  of  their 
fathers,  they  will  never  consent  to  cede  away  hundreds 
of  millions  of  acres  of  land  for  a  nominal  considera 
tion,  or  gratuitously  relinquish  them  to  any  new  State, 
however  loudly  she  may  insist  on  the  'measure  a» 
due  to  her  rights  and  her  sovereignty,  or  however 
boldly  she  may  threaten  to  defy  the  Federal  judiciary, 
and  decide  the  controversy  by  her  own  tribunals  and 
in  her  own  favor.  Those  who  are  conversant  with 
our  Revolutionary  history  will  remember  that  the  ex 
clusive  claims  of  Virginia,  and  other  members  of  our 
political  family,  to  our  public  lands,  were  warmly  re 
sisted  by  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  as  soon 


88  MEMOIR   OF 

as  those  claims  were  avowed  after  the  rupture  with 
the  mother  country.  The  articles  of  consideration  were 
not  signed  on  the  part  of  New  Jersey  until  the  25th 
of  November,  1878;  although  she  had  bled  freely  in 
the  cause  of  American  liberty,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  struggle.  One  of  the  principal  objections  which 
caused  this  delay  in  the  ratification  of  those  articles, 
will  be  found  in  the  able  representation  of  the  Legis 
lature,  presented  by  her  delegates  to  Congress,  before 
she  acceded  to  the  Union.  '  The  ninth  article/  said 
they,  '  provides  that  no  State  shall  be  deprived  of  ter 
ritory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States.  Whether 
we  are  to  understand  by  territory  is  intended  any  land 
the  property  of  which  was  .heretofore  vested  in  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain,  or  that  no  mention  of  such 
land  is  made  in  the  confederation,  we  are  constrained  to 
observe  that  the  present  war,  as  we  always  apprehended, 
was  undertaken  for  the  general  defence  and  interest  of 
of  the  confederating  colonies,  now  the  United  States. 
It  was  ever  the  confident  expectation  of  this  State, 
that  the  benefits,  derived  from  a  successful  contest, 
were  to  be  general  and  proportionate  ;  and  that  the 
property  of  the  common  enemy,  falling  in  consequence 
of  a  prosperous  issue  of  the  war,  would  belong  to  the 
United  States,  and  be  appropriated  to  their  use.  We 
are  therefore  greatly  disappointed  in  finding  no  pro 
vision  made  in  the  confederation  for  empowering  the 
Congress  to  dispose  of  such  property,  but  especially  the 
vacant  and  unpatented  lands,  commonly  called  the 
crown  lands,  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war, 
and  for  such  other  public  and  general  purposes.  The 
jurisdiction  ought,  in  every  instance,  to  belong  to  the 
respective  States,  within  the  charter  or  determined  limits 
of  which  such  lands  may  be  seated ;  but  reason  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


89 


justice  must  decide,  that  the  property  which  existed  in 
the  crown  of  *Great  Britain,  previous  to  the  present 
Revolution,  ought  now  to  belong  to  the  Congress,  in 
trust  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  United  States. 
They  have  fought  and  bled  for  it  in  proportion  to 
their  respective  abilities;  and  therefore  the  reward 
ought  not  to  be  predilectionally  distributed.' 

"  And  when  in  November,  1778,  the  Legislature  of 
New  Jersey  determined  to  attach  her  to  the  Union, 
they  did  it,  as  they  then  expressed,  in  firm  reliance 
that  the  candor  and  justice  of  the  several  States 
would,  in  due  time,  remove  the  subsisting  inequality, 
yet  still  insisting  on  the  justice  of  their  objections 
then  lately  stated  and  sent  to  the  General  Congress. 
So  too,  Delaware  and  Maryland,  for  the  same  reasons, 
refused  to  join  the  confederation,  until  a  still  later 
period  —  the  former  ratifying  the  articles  on  the  22d 
of  February,  1779,  and  the  latter  on  the  ist  of  March, 
1781.  The  State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part  to 
represent  here,  had,  on  the  ist  of  February,  1779, 
adopted  the  following  resolutions  to  authorize  her  ac 
cession  to  the  Union: 

Resolved,  That  this  State  considers  it  necessary  for  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  State,  to  be  included  in  the  Union ; 
that  a  moderate  extent  of  limits  should  be  assigned  for  such 
of  those  States  as  claim  to  the  Mississippi  or  South  Sea ;  and  that 
the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  should  and  ought  to 
have  power  of  fixing  their  western  limits. 

Resolved,  also,  That  this  State  considers  herself  justly  enti 
tled  to  a  right  in  common  with  the  members  of  the  Union, 
to  that  extensive  tract  of  country  which  lies  to  the  westward 
of  the  United  States,  the  property  of  which  was  not  vested 
in  or  granted  to  individuals,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  war;  that  the  same  hath  been  or  may  be  gained 
from  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  or  the  native  Indians,  by  the 


gO  MEMOIR   OF 

blood  and  treasure  of  all,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  a  com 
mon  estate,  to  be  granted  out  on  terms  beneficial  to  the 
United  States. 

"  But  after  the  accession  of  Delaware,  with  this  pro 
test,  Maryland  still  persevered  in  her  refusal  to  join 
the  confederation,  solely  on  the  ground,  that  she  might 
thereby  be  stripped  of  the  common  interest,  and  the 
common  benefits  derived  from  the  Western  lands.  She 
still  insisted  that  some  security  for  these  lands  was 
necessary  for  the  happiness  and  tranquillity  of  the 
Union ;  denied  the  whole  claim  of  Virginia  to  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio ;  and  still  pressed 
upon  Congress  that  policy  and  justice  required  that 
a  country,  unsettled  at  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
claimed  by  the  British  crown,  and  ceded  to  it  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  if  wrested  from  the  common  enemy 
by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  thirteen  States, 
should  be  considered  as  common  property. 

"In  February,  1780,  New  York  made  her  cession, 
to  accelerate  the  Federal  alliance,  and  declared  the 
territory  ceded,  should  be  for  the  use  and  benefit  of 
such  of  the  United  States  as  should  become  members 
of  that  alliance,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose 
whatever.  And  although  Virginia  attempted,  for  awhile, 
to  vindicate  her  claim,  yet  other  States,  feeling  a 
strong  attachment  to  Maryland,  and  conscious  of  the 
justice  of  her  representations,  disliked  a  partial  Union, 
which  would  throw  out  of  the  pale  a  people,  stand 
ing,  as  Marylanders  have  always  stood,  among  the 
bravest  and  most  patriotic  of  our  countrymen.  The 
ordinance  of  Congress  then  followed,  in  October,  1780, 
declaring  that  the  territory  to  be  ceded  by  the  States 
should  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
Union;  and  on  the  2d  of  January,  1781,  Virginia,  in 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  QJ 

that  spirit  of  magnanimity  which  has  generally  pre 
vailed  in  her  councils,  yielded  up  her  claim,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  whole  Union.  It  is  a  remarkable  cir 
cumstance  that  Maryland  did  not  actually  join  the 
Union  until  after  these-  cessions  had  been  made  by 
New  York  and  Virginia,  declaring  at  the  very 
moment,  and  by  the  very  terms  of  her  accession, 
that  she  did  not  release,  nor  intend  to  relinquish,  any 
part  of  her  right  and  interest,  with  the  other  con 
federating  States,  to  the  Western  territory.  These  facts, 
which  have  now  become  the  familiar  history  of  the 
country,  furnish  curious  reminiscences  in  these  latter 
days,  when  a  new  light  has  broken  in  upon  us  to  show 
that  the  new  States  have  title  to  all  the  lands  within 
their  chartered  limits  ;  and  when  we  are  told  it  would 
be  most  magnanimous  and  becoming  in  us,  who  claim 
to  have  imbibed  the  spirit  and  sentiments  of  our  fore 
fathers,  to  cede  away  our  patrimony  for  a  nominal 
consideration,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  feeling 
on  this  subject  manifested  by  the  two  States  of  Dela 
ware  and  Maryland,  preventing  their  accession  to  the 
confederation,  until  so  late  a  period,  was  with  diffi 
culty  repressed,  even  by  that  ardent  attachment  to  the 
cause  of  liberty  for  which  they  were  then  so  much 
distinguished,  and  in  which  they  have  never  been  sur 
passed.  Their  troops  went  through  the  whole  contest 
together,  flanking  and  supporting  each  other  in  battle  ; 
commonly  led  on  by  the  same  commander ;  generally 
the  first  to  advance  and  the  last  to  retreat;  their 
bayonets,  like  the  pikes  of  the  Macedonian  phalanx, 
glittering  in  front  of  one  and  the  same  compact 
mass;  and  when  they  fell,  they  slept  in  death  together, 
on  the  same  part  of  the  blood-stained  field.  It  was 
that  same  spirit  which  prompted  the  combined  exer- 


02  MEMOIR   OF 

tions  of  these  people  in  the  American  cause,  through 
out  the  whole  struggle ;  which  also  united  them  in 
resistance  against  every  attempt  on  the  part  of  any 
single  section  of  the  country,  to  appropriate,  for  its 
exclusive  benefit,  the  territory  which  they  were  striv 
ing  to  conquer  from  the  British  crown.  Sir,  I  think 
they'  will  now  combine  again ;  I  think  they  will,  when 
considering  this  subject,  bestow  some  reflection  upon  the 
millions  which  have  been  expended  in  the  subsequent 
purchase  of  the  southwestern  portion  of  our  public 
domain ;  on  the  sums  which  have  been  profusely 
lavished,  in  making  and  carrying  into  effect  our  treaties 
for  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title ;  in  making 
the  surveys  of  these  lands ;  and  in  the  payment  of 
officers  and  agents  for  the  maintenance  of  our  land 
system.  From  the  feeling  which  formerly  actuated 
them,  I  judge  that  their  co-operation  on  this  subject 
will  be  such  as  to  resist  every  effort  to  bribe  them 
with  promises,  or  to  sway  them  by  means  of  political 
excitement,  to  give  up  that  which  could  not  be  wrested 
from  them  by  appeals  to  their  strongest  attachments 
in  the  darkest  days  of  their  adversity.  They  will 
claim,  I  think,  sir,  an  equal  portion  of  this  territory, 
under  the  plain  letter  of  the  grants  referred  to.  They 
may  claim  a  large  portion  of  it,  by  the  paramount  title 
of  the  right  of  conquest,  which  has  never  been  by 
them  relinquished ;  and  by  that  title  they  can  suc 
cessfully  defend  it.  Whatever  foundation  there  may  be 
for  the  imputation  of  motives,  in  other  sections  of  the 
Union,  to  flatter  and  to  woo  the  West,  by  the  offer 
to  her  of  this  splendid  dowry,  if  she  will  transfer  her 
influence  to  a  candidate  in  a  Presidential  election  ;  we, 
I  believe,  shall  not  take  part  in  any  such  bargain. 
The  gentleman  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Grundy)  says  the 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  g. 

West  has  been  already  wooed  and  won.  It  may  be 
so;  but  we  are  not,  and,  I  think,  shall  never  be,  sub 
potestate  viri ;  and  if  we  could  be  bought  for  any  con 
sideration  to  sign  this  release  of  our  birthright,  we 
should  never  agree,  like  Esau,  to  sell  it  for  a  mess  of 
pottage." 

He  again  spoke,  that  same  year,  in  opposition  to 
the  Graduation  Bill,  while  it  was  before  the  Senate. 
When  Mr.  Clay  first  reported  the  Land  Bill  to'  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Clayton  advocated  the  printing  of  an  extra 
number  of  copies  of  the  report,  which  he  then  pro 
nounced  to  be  the  ablest  and  most  important  that 
had  been  submitted  in  either  house  of  Congress  since 
he  had  been  in  the  public  councils,  On  all  occasions 
he  was  found  prominent  among  the  supporters  of  that 
measure.  In  his  speech  on  the  8th  of  February,  1836, 
in  favor  of  the  national  defence,  he  thus  alluded  to  th| 
passage  of  that  bill.  The  extract  is  quoted  because  it 
states  a  most  important  fact  in  the  history  of  our 
legislation,  which  was  not  generally  known  at  the  time, 
and  is  perhaps  known  now  to  but  very  few,  but* 
which  Mr.  Clayton  had  the  best  possible  opportunity 
of  knowing,  as  he  was  an  actor  in  the  scene  to 
which  he  refers : 

"  It  has  been  further  said  that  the  object  of  the 
resolution  is  to  defeat  the  bill  to  distribute  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  domain  among  the 
States,  according  to  their  federative  population.  But 
such  cannot  be  the  effect  of  adopting  a  liberal  scheme 


04  MEMOIR    OF 

of  national  defence,  really  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
country.  The  land  bill  itself  provides  that  no  part  of 
the  money  which  it  proposes  to  distribute,  shall  be 
disposed  of,  according  to  its  provisions,  in  case  of  war 
with  any  foreign  country ;  and  it  never  has  been  any 
part  of  the  object  of  the  friends  of  that  just  and  salu 
tary  measure  to  divert  one  dollar  of  the  public  treas 
ure  from  the  object  of  necessary  defence.  The  passage 
of  that  bill  could  have  had  no  such  effect.  As  a 
sincere  friend  of  that  bill,  I  do  ardently  desire  that  it 
may,  at  some  future  time,  receive  the  action  of  Con 
gress,  under  more  favorable  auspices.  At  present,  I 
cannot  shut  my  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  the  President 
has  once  put  his  veto  upon  it,  and  has  even  resorted 
to  what,  I  shall  ever  consider,  was  a  most  unjustifiable 
measure  on  his  part  to  prevent  Congress  from  passing 
it  into  a  law  in  spite  of  his  veto,  by  the  requisite 
constitutional  majority  of  two-thirds  of  each  House. 
We  have  good  reason  to  know,  that  when  we  passed 
Ae  bill  simultaneously  with  the  Compromise  Act,  such 
wa,s  the  state  of  kind  feeling  which  the  latter  had 
awakened  in  the  bosoms  of  gentlemen,  who  had  before 
voted  against  the  Land  Bill,  towards  its  friends,  that, 
had  the  President,  who  received  both  the  bills  in  the 
same  hour,  returned  the  latter  to  us  with  his  qualified 
negative  upon  it,  at  the  time  when  he  sent  back  the 
Compromise  Act  with  his  approval  upon  that,  the 
requisite  constitutional  majority  of  two-thirds  was  ready 
in  this  body,  as  well  as  in  the  other  House,  to  make 
the  bill  a  law  in  despite  of  his  veto.  He  chose  to 
keep  the  bill  until  another  session,  and  then  sent  it 
back  to  a  new  Congress,  many  of  whose  members  were 
not  members  of  that  which  passed  the  act.  Is  there 
any  evidence  of  a  change  in  his  determination  as  to 


JOHN    M,    CLAYTON.  95 

this  bill  ?  and,  if  not,  can  any  man  hope  for  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Land  Bill  into  a  law,  while  he,  who  re 
sorted  to  such  means  to  defeat  it,  as  I  have  in  part 
described,  still  has  it  in  his  power  to  resort  to  similar 
means  again  ?  No,  sir ;  though  I  hold  it  to  be  my 
duty,  uncontrolled  by  the  Executive  will,  to  vote  for 
the  measure  as  often  it  shall  be  presented,  yet  I  feel 
that  we  must  wait  till  other  counsels  shall  prevail  in 
the  Executive  mansion  before  the  people  of  any  of  the 
old  States,  which  conquered  these  public  lands  from 
the  crown  of  Great  Britain  by  the  expenditure  of  their 
blood  and  treasure,  can  be  permitted  to  touch  a  dollar 
of  the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  them.  But, 
without  reference  to  this  state  of  things,  it  is  sufficient 
now  to  say,  that  the  objection  that  a  liberal  system  of 
appropriation  for  public  defense  might  come  in  collision 
with  the  distribution  under  the  land  bill,  proceeds 
upon  the  admission  of  what  is  erroneous  in  point  of 
fact ;  for  we  have  ample  resources  for  national  de 
fence,  without  touching  the  funds  that  the  bill  was  i% 
tended  to  affect;  and,  were  it  otherwise,  I  should  not 
hesitate  a  moment  in  deciding,  that  not  a  dollar  should 
be  distributed,  or  applied  to  other  purposes,  while  it 
remains  necessary  to  put  the  country  in  a  state  of 
preparation  to  meet  any  and  every  emergency  that 
may  arise  out  of  the  unsettled  state  of  our  foreign 
relations. 

"  Another  objection  has  been  urged.  The  honorable 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  has  of 
fered  a  proposition,  that  now  lies  on  the  table,  to  so 
amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  to  au 
thorize  the  distribution  among  the  States  of  all  the 
surplus  in  the  treasury  not  necessary  for  the  expenses 
of  the  Government,  whether  proceeding  from  the  avails 


g6  MEMOIR    OF 

of  the  public  domain,  or  from  any  other  source.  If 
it 'be  any  part  of  the  design  of  his  resolution  to  defeat 
the  appropriations  for  those  objects  (which  I  have 
already  observed,  are,  in  my  estimation,  paramount  to 
all  others),  I  have  yet  to  learn  it;  and,  whenever  that 
shall  be  avowed  as  its  object,  or  shall  appear,  in  my 
judgment,  to  be  its  effect,  I  shall  hold  it  to  be  my 
duty,  without  reference  to  any  other  arguments  against 
it,  to  resist  it  to  the  utmost.  Sir,  I  do  not  propose 
to  discuss  its  merits,  but  I  am  free  to  declafe,  it  is  a 
proposition  which,  in  its  present  form,  can  never  be 
attended  with  any  practical  results.  Many  of  those  who 
desire  the  distribution,  believe  that  the  object  can  be 
attained  whenever  Congress  shall  pass  an  act  to  effect 
it ;  and  that  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  Consti 
tution  is  objectionable,  not  merely  because  it  is  un 
necessary,  but  because  it  involves  an  admission  of  the 
want  of  power,  already  conceded  to  Congress.  The 
elaborate  addresses  on  this  subject  by  a  late  Senator 
£•0111  New  Jersey  (Mr.  Dickerson),  now  a  member  of 
the  cabinet,  were  made  in  vain,  if  there  were  no  con 
siderable  number  of  men  friendly  to  the  object,  and 
yet  confident  of  the  existence  of  a  power  to  effect  it. 
The  President,  in  his  annual  messages  to  Congress,  has 
repeatedly  avowed  himself  friendly  to  the  object  of 
distributing  this  surplus  among  the  States  ;  yet  he  had 
rejected  the  Land  Bill,  which  is  the  only  measure  that 
has  ever  been  proposed  by  friend  or  foe  to  carry  out, 
by  a  practical  effort,  any  part  of  his  suggestion.  Con 
sidering  these  things,  and  reflecting  at  the  same  time 
upon  the  difficulty,  not  to  say  the  absolute  impossi 
bility,  of  procuring  any  change  in  .the  Constitution 
whatsoever,  on  any  subject,  I  cannot  view  this  propo 
sition  as  presenting,  even  to  the  friends  of  the  distri- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


97 


bution  which  it  contemplates,  any  ground  upon  which 
an  opposition  to  the  great  measure  of  national  defence 
can  be  rested.  Sir,  it  is  visionary.  If  the  surplus 
must  accumulate  until  that  proposition  shall  be  adopted, 
it  will  never  find  an  avenue  through  which  it  may 
escape  to  the  people,  to  whom  it  rightfully  belongs. 

"  Nor  does  that  other  objection,  that,  by  these 
means,  the  expenditures  for  internal  improvements  will 
be  arrested,  stand  on  any  better  foundation.  Sir,  the 
expenditures  for  internal  improvements  are  effectually 
arrested  by  Executive  action  alone,  no  matter  what 
may  be  our  decision  on  this  or  any  other  subject. 
The  President  alone  now  governs  the  destinies  of  the 
country,  so  far  as  national  improvement  is  involved  in 
them.  *  *  Until  the  people  shall  desire  it 

otherwise,  and  manifest  that  desire  by  the  elevation  of 
some  one  to  the  Presidential  power  who  will  consent 
that  their  money  shall  be  expended  in  making  rail 
roads  and  canals,  to  bind  and  connect  together  the 
different  sections  of  our  country,  as  well  as  in  the, 
purchase  of  arms,  the  employment  of  fleets,  the  raising 
of  armies,  and  the  erection  of  forts,  we  have  no  alter 
native  left  to  us  but  that  of  appropriating  largely  for 
the  defence,  or  suffering  this  wealth  to  accumulate 
until  the  sum  of  its  enticing  glories  shall  win  the  heart 
of  some  one  to  use  it  for  the  mastery  of  us  all,  and 
the  conquest  of  the  liberty  that  is  left  to  us.  And, 
sir,  I  say  again,  in  reference  to  this  objection,  as  well 
as  to  all  others  of  a  similar  character,  that  so  long  as 
the  public  money  can  be  usefully  applied  to  the  in 
dispensable  object  of  the  necessary  protection  and 
safety  of  the  cquntry,  any  and  every  other  object  of 
expenditure  sinks,  in  my  judgment,  into  inferiority  with 
that." 


gg  MEMOIR    OF 

It  will  readily  occur  to  any  one  who  will  think 
Upon  the  subject,  that  as  the  Land  Bill  passed  cotem- 
poraneously  with  the  Compromise  Act,  it  was  part  of 
a  great  system  of  measures  devised,  among  other  pur 
poses,  for  the  protection  of  American  labor.  We  have 
seen  that  the  minimum,  or  lowest  point  to  which 
the  duties  could  descend  under  the  Compromise  Act, 
was  that  point  where  the  revenue  derived  from  them 
was  just  sufficient  for  an  economical  administration  of 
the  Government.  The  Compromise  Act  expressly  de 
clares  that  the  revenue  necessary  for  that  purpose  shall 
be  derived  from  import  duties  only.  The  fact,  as  above 
stated  in  the  extract  from  Mr.  Clayton's  speech,  shows 
conclusively  that  Southern  as  well  as  Northern  men 
had,  at  the  close  of  the  session  of  1833,  agreed  to  pass 
the  Land  Bill,  in  spite  of  the  President's  veto,  by  the 

requisite  constitutional  majority  of  two-thirds.     This  im- 
i 
portant   fact   has    often    been   stated,   but   we   here   have 

the  tangible  evidence  to  sustain  it.  Within  less  than 
three  years  after  these  events  occurred,  Mr.  Clayton 
publicly  states  the  fact,  in  his  place  in  the  Senate 
chamber,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  Southern  as  well 
as  Northern  Senators,  many  of  whom  had  participated 
in  the  exciting  scenes  of  1833,  and  who  could  have 
contradicted  the  statement,  if  Mr.  Clayton  had  been 
mistaken.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  room  to  doubt 
that  the  whole  scheme  of  compromise  agreed  upon, 
contemplated  the  abstraction  of  the'  revenue  derived 
from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  from  the  treasury 
of  the  nation,  the  distribution  of  it  among  the  States, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  gg 

and  the  support  of  Government  from  a  tariff,  which 
must  necessarily  be  protective.  The  best  part  of  the 
compromise,  therefore,  was  crushed  by  the  course  of 
the  President  in  withholding  the  bill  from  the  Sen 
ate,  and  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  were,  as  they  con 
ceived,  most  unjustly  held  responsible  by  their  adver 
saries  for  all  the  distress  that  the  country  suffered 
until  it  got  relief  by  the  tariff,  passed  in  1842,  be 
fore  referred  to.  Everybody  was  taken  by  surprise 
at  the  non-action  of  the  President,  which  was  kept 
secret,  till  the  last  moment  of  the  session,  from  his 
most  intimate  friends,  except  perhaps  the  Hon.  Thomas 
H.  Benton.  Mr.  Clayton,  and  the  others  with  whom 
he  acted,  claimed  that  had  the  Land  Bill  become  a 
law,  and  the  whole  compromise  been  faithfully  carried 
out  on  both  sides,  —  had  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  withheld  his  great  and  fatal  blow  at  the  minimum 
principle,  faithfully  executing  the  act  according  to  the 
meaning  of  those  who  passed  it,  —  had  the  biennial 
reduction  of  the  revenue  of  ten  per  cent,  been  arrested 
by  the  succeeding  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  as 
the  law  directed,  when  the  revenue  raised  from  duties 
was  about  to  prove  insufficient  for  the  expenses  of 
Government, —  and,  above  all,  had  the  law  been  exe 
cuted  so  far  as  related  to  the  home  valuation  of  im 
ported  goods,  provided  for  by  the  act,  the  manufac 
turers  would  have  been  fully  sustained,  and  the  coun 
try  would  have  escaped  all  the  distress  before  re 
ferred  to. 


loo  MEMOIR    OF 

While  a  member  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Clayton  appears 
to  have  been  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  all  the 
leading  questions  of  constitutional  law  which  agitated 
and  divided  that  body.  Of  his  ability  as  a  lawyer,  a 
correct  judgment  may  be  formed  by  perusing  the  de 
bates  on  those  questions.  The  opinion  of  his  brother 
Senators  on  that  subject  is  not  to  be  mistaken ;  for 
from  the  year  1833  till  he  left  the  Senate,  he  was 
regularly  elected  by  the  votes  of  the  Senators  as  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  —  the  post 
for  which  the  best  constitutional  lawyer  is  supposed 
to  be  selected.  A  higher  compliment  could  not  have 
been  paid  him  by  the  Senate;  and  most  faithfully  did 
he  labor  for  the  service  of  the  country  while  filling 
this  most  important  place.  To  this  committee  all 
questions  of  constitutional  law,  indeed,  all  important 
legal  questions,  were  referred.  The  heaviest  claims 
against  the  Government  were  submitted  to  its  consid 
eration.  Questions  of  boundary  between  the  States  of 
the  Union ;  and  all  the  important  questions  connected 
with  the  admission  of  new  States ;  the  organization  of 
new  Territorial  governments,  and  the  supervision  of  the 
laws  for  administering  justice  in  the  Territories ;  all 
questions  relating  to  the  courts  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  administration  of  justice  by  them;  all  Execu 
tive  nominations  of  judges  and  marshals  of  the  United 
States  ;  nominations  for  the  offices  of  Attorney  General 
and  District- Attorney ;  appropriations  of  money  to  sup 
port  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  United  States, 
and  to  defray  expenses  incident  to  the  courts,  were 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  IOI 

among  the  subjects  which  demanded  the  indefatigable 
attention  of  the  committee,  and  especially  the  chair 
man.  While  acting  in  this  capacity,  Mr.  Clayton  re 
ported  from  his  committee  the  original  law  which  first 
extended  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  over  the 
immense  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  then  embracing  the 
Territory  of  Iowa,  and  established  a  Territorial  govern 
ment  founded  on  the  most  liberal  principles,  over  a 
country,  part  of  which  was  then  in  a  state  of  perfect 
anarchy,  where  murders  and  crimes  of  the  deepest  dye 
were  perpetrated  with  impunity ;  or,  if  punished  at  all, 
were  visited  only  by  lynch  law,  to  gratify  the  venge 
ance  of  an  outraged  mob.  The  delegate  from  Wiscon 
sin,  until  the  period  when  Mr.  Clayton  assumed  the 
task  of  carrying  a  law  for  the  government  of  the  Ter 
ritory  through  the  Senate,  had  for  a  long  time,  at 
each  successive  session  of  Congress,  urged  the  necessity 
of  legislative  action  in  its  behalf.  Such  was  Mr.  Clay 
ton's  influence,  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  such 
the  confidence  of  the  Senate  in  his  discretion  and 
judgment,  that  when  he  reported  this  important  bill  to 
the  Senate,  containing  a  frame  of  government  for  a 
country  large  enough  almost  for  an  empire,  he  suc 
ceeded  in  pressing  it  through  all  the  forms  of  legislation, 
and  finally  passing  it  through  the  Senate,  in  a  single 
day.  No  event  could  give  us  a  higher  opinion  of  the 
confidence  of  the  Senate ;  and  it  is  doubted  whether 
any  other  instance  of  successful  effort  similar  to  this 
can  be  pointed  to  in  the  annals  of  Congress.  This 
prompt  action  secured  its  passage  in  the  House ;  and 


IO2  MEMOIR   OF 

Iowa,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile  parts  of 
our  country,  was  thus  rescued  from  the  horrors  of 
anarchy.  In  return  for  the  interest  in  her  affairs  taken 
by  Mr.  Clayton  (who  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the 
father  of  the  first  Territorial  form  of  government  estab 
lished  for  her  protection),  the  Territorial  Council  shortly 
afterwards  gave  his  name  to  one  of  the  largest  coun 
ties  in  the  Territory,  and  the  name  of  Delaware  to 
county  adjoining  it. 


THE  BOUNDARY  QUESTION  BETWEEN  OHIO 
AND  MICHIGAN. 

Among  the  many  interesting  subjects  to  which  Mr. 
Clayton  devoted  his  attention  as  chairman  of  the  Ju 
diciary  Committee,  was  the  settlement  of  a  question 
which  created  great  excitement  and  alarm  at  the  time, 
relating  to  the  boundary  line  between  the  State  of 
Ohio,  and  the  then  Territory  of  Michigan.  The  ques 
tion  deeply  affected  both  the  contending  parties  ;  and, 
by  its  consequences,  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
the  former  of  which,  upon  the  grounds  assumed  by 
Michigan,  would  have  lost  a  portion  of  each  of  her 
six  northern  counties.  The  parties  immediately  inter 
ested  threatened  to  settle  the  question  by  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  sword  ;  and,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Governor  of  Michigan,  troops  were  marched  into  the 
disputed  territory,  which  were,  of  course,  opposed  by 
the  State  of  Ohio.  At  the  same  time  Michigan  was 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  JQ^ 

demanding  admission  into  the  Union;  and  the  settle 
ment  of  the  question,  before  her  admission,  became  a 
matter  of  duty  which  would  not  admit  of  delay.  The 
whole  question  of  boundary  was  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  of  the  Judiciary ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  select 
committee  was  appointed  to  report  upon  the  applica 
tion  of  the  State  for  admission  into  the  Union.  Mr. 
Clayton  was  a  member  of  this  last  committee  also,  and 
it  was  owing  to  his  successful  exertions  that  both  ques 
tions  were  happily  settled.  In  an  elaborate  report 
drawn  by  him,  as  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
in  February,  1835,  he  reviewed  at  great  length  the 
whole  controversy  touching  the  boundary  line,  and 
reported  a  bill  to  settle  the  question  forever.  And 
such  was  the  force  of  the  reasoning  in  that  report, 
and  so  clearly  was  the  right  of  the  matter  explained 
and  enforced  by  it,  that,  although  it  had  been  consid 
ered  one  of  the  most  difficult  questions,  and  one  which 
Congress  had  long  labored,  in  vain,  to  decide,  yet  men 
who  had,  theretofore,  entertained  the  most  opposite 
opinions  on  the  subject,  were  induced  to  unite  in 
support  of  the  boundary  proposed  by  the  committee. 
The  committee  itself  was  unanimous  in  favor  of  the 
report,  five  thousand  extra  copies  of  which  were  ordered 
to  be  printed ;  and  the  bill,  reported  by  Mr.  Clayton, 
shortly  after  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  39  to  3. 
The  House  concurred,  and  thus  was  peacefully  settled, 
without  the  interposition  of  military  force,  which  had 
been  invoked  by  each  of  the  contending  parties  in  their 
application  to  the  National  Executive,  a  question  of  a 


MEMOIR    OF 

most  dangerous  character,  which,  at  one  period,  seriously 
threatened   the   peace  of  the    country. 

When  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Michigan  was 
before  the  Senate,  Mr.  Clayton  advocated  the  grant  to 
the  new  State  of  a  territory  west  of  the  Lake  of  about 
20,000  square  miles  —  in  part  for  the  purpose  of  recon 
ciling  her  to  the  loss  of  the  territory  in  dispute  with 
Ohio  (to  which  she  never  in  fact  had  any  right),  but 
chiefly,  as  he.  averred  at  the  time,  for  the  much  more 
important  purpose  of  so  far  diminishing  the  extent  of 
the  territory  of  Wisconsin  as  to  prevent  the  necessity 
of  dividing  that  large  Territory,  and  forming  out  of  it, 
in  future,  two  new  States,  to  be  added  to  the  Union. 
He  foresaw  that  the  balance  of  power  between  the 
slave-holding  and  non-slaveholding  States  of  the  Union, 
as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  formation  of  two 
new  non-slave-holding  States  out  of  the  Territory  of 
Wisconsin,  would  be  disturbed.  In  the  South,  Florida 
alone  remained  for  the  formation  of  another  slave- 
holding  State :  and  he  sought  to  maintain  the  safe 
guards  of  the  Constitution  in  favor  of  Southern  rights, 
by  supporting  that  equality  of  representation  in  the 
Senate,  which  was  soon  to  be  lost  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  This  was  the  true  reason  for  the  ex 
traordinary  addition  of  20,000  square  miles  to  Michigan, 
on  the  west  of  the  Lake.  Strange  to  say,  after  Mr. 
Clayton  left  Congress,  the  noisy  advocates  of  Southern 
Rights  entirely  overlooked  this  important  subject,  and 
while  their  attention  was  engrossed  by  mere  party 
matters,  suffered  a  bill  to  slip  quietly  through  Con- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  105 

gress,  without  the  slightest  opposition,  forming  two  dis 
tinct  Territories  out  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  each 
of  which  was  then  ready  and  entitled  to  demand  ad 
mission  into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  State.  When 
they  were  admitted,  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Sen 
ate  was  lost,  and  the  last  and  only  safeguard  for  the 
South,  in  a  constitutional  system  of  checks  and  balances, 
was  taken  from  her  forever. 

While  the  bill  was  yet  pending,  Mr.  Clayton  moved 
a  proviso  that  the  act  should  not  go  into  effect  until 
the  people  of  the  State  should,  in  convention,  alter  the 
boundaries,  which  had  been  fixed  by  a  previous  con 
vention,  so  as  to  include  a  part  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
and  assent  to  the  new  boundaries,  which,  while  they 
immensely  enlarged  the  area  of  the  State,  excluded  the 
territory  which  had  been  in  dispute  between  her  and 
Ohio.  The  necessity  of  this  proposition  was  so  appa 
rent  as  soon  as  it  was  suggested :  the  danger  of  a  con 
flict  between  two  sovereign  States,  each  claiming  the 
same  territory,  was  so  palpable :  that,  notwithstanding 
a  strenuous  opposition  from  Mr.  Benton,  after  the  sub 
ject  had  been  discussed  by  himself  and  Mr.  Clayton, 
the  Senate,  by  an  overwhelming  vote  of  men  of  both 
parties,  adopted  the  proviso ;  and  the  two  '  States,  as 
well  as  the  Union,  were  secured  against  any  possible 
danger  of  future  collision.  Mr.  Clayton  next  called  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  fact  that,  by  the  new 
Constitution  which  Michigan  had  adopted,  and  which 
Congress  was  now  called  upon  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  to  approve,  before  she  could  be  ad- 


io6 


MEMOIR    OF 


niitted  into  the  Union,  aliens  were  entitled  to  vote  at 
all  elections.  He  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  as  a  lawyer, 
that  the  admission  of  aliens  to  the  right  of  suffrage  be 
fore  they  were  naturalized  according  to  the  laws  of 
Congress,  was  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  the  State  ought  not  to  be  ad 
mitted  until  her  Convention  had  adapted  her  State 
Constitution  to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  He 
then  moved  another  proviso  to  the  bill  in  accordance 
with  his  opinion.  This  brought  on  one  of  the  most  in 
teresting  debates  that  ever  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
Senate.  In  vain  did  Mr.  Clayton,  who  actively  partici 
pated  in  the  discussion,  strive  to  prevent  the  question 
from  assuming  a  party  complexion.  Mr.  Benton  led  off 
in  a  political  speech,  addressed  to  his  own  party,  in 
favor  of  the  right  of  aliens  to  vote  without  naturaliza 
tion  ;  and,  strange  to  relate,  drew  the  whole  force  of 
his  party  in  the  Senate  after  him.  At  the  close  of 
about  a  week's  discussion,  the  Senate  seemed  to  be 
equally  divided  on  the  motion,  when  a  Senator  but 
lately  arrived,  who  had  been  absent,  and  who  had  heard 
only  the  close  of  the  debate,  contrary  to  all  expecta 
tions,  threw  his  vote  against  the  proviso,  and  gave  a 
majority  of  one  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  the  State, 
and  the  allowance  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  all  aliens, 
whether  naturalized  or  not.  So  deeply  was  Mr.  Clayton 
disgusted  with  this  decision,  which,  as  he  conceived, 
prostrated  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  merely 
to  secure  the  vote  of  Michigan,  that  he  divested  him 
self  of  any  further  care  or  charge  of  the  bill,  and  imme- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  Io-r 

diately  left  the  Senate  chamber  ;  as  did  also,  about  the 
same  time,  nearly  all  his  political  associates.  A  bare 
quorum  was  left  to  pass  the  bill,  which  they  accom 
plished,  and  thus  succeeded  in  ( obtaining  the  vote  of 
Michigan  in  favor  of  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  trace  Mr.  Clayton's  history 
through  the  whole  course  of  his  Senatorial  career.  As 
chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  he  reported  the 
bill  to  extend. the  territory  of  the  State  of  Missouri  so 
far  west  as  to  embrace  the  whole  country  lying  east 
ward  of  the  Missouri  river,  and  south  of  the  Iowa 
boundary;  and  successfully  exerted  his  influence  in  favor 
of  its  passage.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  discussion 
of  the  various  questions  arising  out  of  the  President's 
removal  of  the  public  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  using,  in  a  speech  delivered  by  him  in 
the  Senate,  the  following  prophetic  language  about 
the  evils  that  would  result  from  the  veto  of  the  Presi 
dent  upon  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  : 

"In  less  than  four  years  the  pecuniary  distress,  the 
commercial  embarrassment,  consequent  upon  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  United  States  Bank,  must  exceed  any  thing 

which    has    ever    been    known    in    our   history 

The  depreciation  of  paper  operates .  as  a  tax  on  the 
farmer,  the  mechanic,  and  all  the  consumers  of  mer 
chandise,  to  its  whole  amount.  The  loss  of  confidence 
among  men ;  the  total  derangement  of  that  admirable 
system  of  exchanges  which  is  now  acknowledged  to  be 
better  than  exists  in  any  country  on  the  globe ;  over- 


Iog  MEMOIR    OF 

trading  and  speculation  on  false  capital  in  every  part 
of  the  country  ;  that  rapid  fluctuation  in  the  standard 
of  value  for  money,  which,  like  the  unseen  pestilence, 
withers  all  the  efforts  of  industry,  while  the  sufferer  is 
in  utter  ignorance  of  the  cause  of  his  destruction  ;  bank 
ruptcies  and  ruin,  at  the  anticipation  of  which  the  heart 
sickens,  —  must  follow  in  the  long  train  of  evils  which 
are,  assuredly,  before  us." 

As  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Judiciary  he 
made  that  most  elaborate  report  on  the  attempt  of  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  War  to  remove  the  Pension 
Fund  from  the  Bank  in  1834.  Six  thousand  extra 
copies  of  this  report  were  printed  by  order  of  the  Sen 
ate  ;  and  its  effect  upon  that  body  was  such  that,  in 
the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  violent  party  excitements 
ever  known  in  the  country,  and  in  despite  of  all  the  in 
fluence  of  the  President  and  Secretary,  the  report  which 
vindicated  the  right  of  the  Bank  to  the  Pension  Agency, 
was  sustained  by  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  nearly  two  to 
one. 


THE  APPORTIONMENT  BILL. 

One  of  those  measures  in  which  Mr.  Clayton  took 
great  interest  when  it  came  before  the  Senate,  was  the 
bill  for  the  apportionment  of  the  Representatives  in  Con 
gress.  While  he  was  a  warm  admirer  of  the  high  qual 
ities  of  Mr.  Clay  and  of  Mr.  Webster,  he  never  yielded 
his  own  judgment  to  the  dictates  of  either.  His  advo- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

cacy  of  Mr.  Webster's  amendment  to  the  Appropriation 
Bill  of  1832  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Clay,  and  the  support 
he  gave  to  another  great  measure  to  which  allusion  will 
presently  be  made,  are  among  the  many  evidences  which 
existed  that  he  sided  only  with  either  of  those  great 
statesmen  from  convictions  of  duty.  The  amendment  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Webster  to  the  bill  for  apportioning  the  rep 
resentation  in  Congress,  presented  a  question  purely  legal 
and  mathematical  in  its  character.  For  forty  years  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  had  proceeded  on  a  false 
principle  in  distributing  political  power  among  the  States ; 
and  such  was  its  effect  upon  the  State  of  Delaware,  that 
during  all  that  period,  she  had  not  obtained  as  fair  and 
full  a  representation  in  the  House  of  Representatives  as 
the  very  slaves  in  Georgia.  The  States  which  had  been 
oppressed  were  the  smaller  ones,  whose  right  had  been 
sacrificed  by  the  transfer  of  their  Representatives  to  the 
larger  States.  The  object  of  the  amendment  was  to  pre 
vent  in  future  this  injustice  ;  to  establish  a  just  propor 
tion  between  the  number  of  the  House  and  the  ratio  of 
representation,  which  had  always  been  overlooked,  under 
the  wretched  pretext  that  fractions  could  not  be  repre 
sented.  In  the  protracted  debate  which  ensued  on  the 
introduction  of  the  amendment,  Mr.  Clayton  took  a  more 
active  part  than  any  other  member  of  the  Senate,  and 
on  the  25th  day  of  April,  1832,  he  delivered  a  speech  on 
the  whole  subject,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Dallas  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  which  conclusively  demonstrated  the  justice  and  pro-' 
priety  of  the  amendment.  The  result  was,  the  adoption 

of  the  amendment  by  the  Senate.     The  House,  however, 

14 


no 


MEMOIR    OF 


refused  to  concur  in  the  amendment,  but  the  discussion 
had  settled  the  principle  forever;  and  Mr.  Clayton  ap 
pears  to  have  anticipated  that  the  next  apportionment  of 
representation  in  Congress  would  allow  representation  for 
fractions,  as  the  best  possible  method,  and  the  nearest 
approach  to  that  exact  justice  contemplated  by  the  Con 
stitution.  He  predicted  that  the  debate  had  settled  the 
question  for  all  time  to  come,  and  that  the  gross  injus 
tice  which  the  apportionment  laws  had  sanctioned,  from 
the  origin  of  the  Government,  would  cease,  when  the 
subject  became  fully  understood.  His  closing  remarks, 
in  this  debate,  were  as  follows : 

"The  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Dallas)  objects 
to  the  rule  adopted  in  the  amendment  because  he  says 
it  is  complex  and  not  obvious  to  the  mind.  It  has 
been  stated  over  and  over  again,  to  be  nothing  more 
than  the  common  rule  of  three,  or  of  practice,  as  the 
gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Tazewell)  has  called  it,  or 
of  fellowship,  as  others  call  it.  I  thought  it  could  not 
puzzle  a  Philadelphia  lawyer  to  work  it  out,  although 
the  honorable  gentleman  denounced  it  so  strongly  for  its 
mathematical  intricacy.  In  truth,  it  is  much  more  ob 
vious  to  the  common  mind,  as  a  principle  of  justice, 
than  the  rule  of  arbitrary  ratios ;  and  I  willingly  risk  its 
success  on  the  unbiased  judgment  of  the  people,  whose 
sense  of  right  will  induce  them  to  adopt  it  in  preference 
to  that  system  which,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  is,  to  a 
great  extent,  anti-republican,  unjust,  and  most  unequal, 
and  which  has  been  denounced,  in  a  recent  letter  from 
a  gentleman  in  New  York,  who  stands  among  the 
most  distinguished  jurists  this  country  has  produced, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ni 

as  unconstitutional,  and  absolutely  intolerable  in  its  opera 
tion. 

"  Sir,  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  has  said  that 
the  mode  of  apportionment  proposed  by  the  bill  has  been 
submitted  to  without  a  murmur  for  forty  years  ;  that  it 
has  now  become  like  those  settled  institutions  of  the 
country  to  all  of  which  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  are 
so  much  attached,  and  for  the  preservation  and  main 
tenance  of  which,  in  their  own  peculiar  way,  they  are 
contending,  have  contended,  and  always  will  contend. 
But,  sir,  let  me  tell  him  that  it  yet  remains  to  be  shown 
that  her  patriotic  people  have  ever,  knowingly,  sanc 
tioned  deliberate  injustice,  or  downright  usurpation,  no 
matter  through  how  many  ages  it  may  have  withstood 
resistance,  and  defied  the  claims  of  justice.  If  the  peo 
ple  of  this  country  should  now,  generally,  examine  this 
subject,  they  would  no  more  tolerate  the  principles  of 
this  bill,  than  they  did  the  long-continued  tyranny  of 
the  English  monarchs,  which,  in  1776,  was,  at  least  as 
much  as  this,  one  of  the  settled  institutions  of  the  coun 
try.  And  so  far  from  its  being  true  that  those  who 
have  been  oppressed  by  this  contrivance,  have  submitted 
without  a  murmur,  I  believe  that  at  each  succeeding 
apportionment,  the  complaints  of  the  injured  States  have 
been  uttered,  not  in  threats  or  denunciations,  but  in  the 
tone  of  firm,  manly,  and  respectlul  opposition.  We  will 
go  no  further  now,  sir,  than  those  who  went  before  us. 

o 

But  it  shall  be  our  task  to  lay  before  our  country  the 
justice  of  our  claim,  relying,  with  perfect  confidence, 
upon  the  honesty  and  good  faith  of  our  countrymen  to 
right  us,  when  they  shall  learn  we  have  been  wronged. 
"  My  friend,  the  eloquent  and  able  Senator  from  Ohio 
(Mr.  Ewing),  despising  the  petty  advantage  which  might 
be  gained  by  a  large  State  over  a  small  one  by  the 


II2  MEMOIR    OF 

trickery  of  this  bill,  has,  by  his  steady  opposition  to  it, 
endeared  to  us  more  than  ever  the  magnanimous  people 
of  that  great  and  greatly  growing  member  of  our  confed 
eracy,  whom  he  so  honorably  represents  ;  while  he  has 
strengthened  our  confidence  in  the  justice  of  our  coun 
trymen.  Hitherto  our  complaints  have  been  heard  in 
vain  ;  indeed,  the  inducement  to  make  them  was  never 
before  so  great.  Through  all  the  earlier  stages  of  our 
Union,  the  cause  of  complaint  was  much  less,  because 
the  difference  in  the  population  of  the  respective  States 
was  comparatively  inconsiderable.  But  as  that  difference 
has  increased,  so  has  the  injustice,  and  the  complaint  of 
those  who  have  been  wronged  by  its  increasing  opera 
tion.  In  time,  this  evil  will  become  so  intolerable,  that 
it  must  be  changed,  or  the  rights  of  the  smaller  States 
must  be  substantially  abandoned.  In  the  perfect  con 
viction  that  this  change  must  come,  and  in  the  belief 
that  the  old  mode  of  apportionment  will,  at  some  future 
period  of  our  history,  be  denounced  as  one  of  the 
strangest  illusions  that  ever  misled  our  countrymen,  a 
defeat,  at  this  moment,  would  neither  increase  my  con 
fidence  in  the  justice  of  former  decisions  on  this  subject, 
nor  diminish  my  hopes  of  a  correct  determination 
hereafter." 


The  expectation  of  Mr.  Clayton  was  not  disappoint 
ed  ;  for  in  the  law  for  the  apportionment  of  representation 
in  Congress,  passed  in  1842,  the  principle  advocated  by 
him  and  Mr.  Webster,  was  triumphantly  incorporated ; 
and  the  manifest  justice  of  it  was  such  that  it  was  not 
thought  possible  it  ever  would  be  abandoned. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  u, 

PRESIDENT  JACKSON'S  PROTEST  —  REMOVAL 
OF  THE  DEPOSITS 

In  the  year  1834  President  Jackson  made  a  direct 
issue,  in  his  celebrated  Protest,  with  each  of  those  Sena 
tors  who  had  voted  in  favor  of  a  resolution  condemn 
ing  his  act  of  removal  of  the  public  deposits  from 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Most  intelligent  per 
sons,  having  knowledge  of  political  affairs,  are  too  well 
acquainted  with  the  celebrated  document  and  with  the 
resolution  that  induced  it,  to  require  their  production  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  President,  in  his  Protest,  os 
tentatiously  published  the  names  of  each  of  the  Sena 
tors  who  had  condemned  his  conduct,  and  made  a  direct 
appeal  to  the  people  against  their  re-election.  Mr.  Clay 
ton  was  one  of  those  whose  six  years  term  of  office  was 
about  to  expire,  and  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of 
the  "  protested  Senators,"  as  they  were,  at  that  day, 
termed.  Long  before  this  time  he  had  privately  ex 
pressed  a  wish  to  his  friends,  to  retire  from  public  life; 
which  he  thought  was  a  duty  he  owed  to  his  family, 
then  consisting  of  his  two  sons,  his  brother,  a  niece,  and 
three  nephews  —  all  but  the  brother  mere  children. 
But  when  he  saw  the  President's  Protest,  he  imme 
diately  determined  to  join  issue  with  him  before  the 
people  of  Delaware,  to  cancel  his  intention  to  retire, 
and  to  stand  a  full  canvass  for  re-election.  The  Presi 
dent  sought  for  a  verdict  of  approval  of  his  own  con 
duct  by  the  citizens  of  Delaware,  as  well  as  those  of 


II4  MEMOIR    OF 

other  States,  the  terms  of  whose  Senators  were  about 
to  expire.  Mr.  Clayton  ^thought  that  he  could  not,  with 
honor,  decline  to  meet  the  President  on  his  own  issue, 
by  announcing  his  intention  to  retire  before  the  elec 
tion,  and  he  determined  that  the  President  should  hear 
the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Delaware,  who,  he  well 
knew,  heartily  approved  of  his  own  conduct  in  public 
life.  This  was  the  year  of  Mr.  Benton's  celebrated 
golden  scheme,  and  the  party  friends  of  the  President 
everywhere  made  the  strongesf  appeals  to  the  prejudices 
and  ignorance  of  the  masses, — as  men  will  always  do  to 
support  their  views  politically.  The  contest  in  Delaware 
was  one  of  the  most  exciting  ever  known  here.  It  re 
sulted  in  a  complete  triumph  for  Mr.  Clayton  and  his 
friends,  and  his  re-election  to  the  Senate  was  now  made 
certain,  in  case  he  chose  to  accept. 


RESIGNATION  OF  SENATORSHIP. 

After  the  election  in  1834,  Mr.  Clayton  issued  the 
following  card  to  the  people  of  Delaware,  which  is  to 
be  found  in  Niles's  Register  of  Dec.'  5,  1834: 

To  the  People  of  the  State  of  Delaware  : 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  —  At  the  close  of  the  last  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  I  should  have  published  my  desire  not 
to  be  considered  a  candidate  for  re-election  to  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States,  but  for  the  extraordinary  posi 
tion  then  occupied  by  the  Executive,  in  relation  to  the 
Senate.  The  President,  by  his  protest  against  the  Sen- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ne 

ate's  resolution  of  the  27th  of  March  last  (the  resolution 
of  condemnation  for  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States),  virtually  appealed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  invoked  their  condemna 
tion  of  a  vote  which  then  had,  and  still  has,  my  hearty 
concurrence  'and  approbation.  I  had  joined  with  those 
who  declared  that,  in  their  judgment,  the  then  recent 
proceedings  of  the  Executive,  in  relation  to  the  public 
revenue,  were  in  derogation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  the  country.  My  Senatorial  term  was  about  to  ex 
pire  ;  and  the  Executive  protest  tendered  to  the  people, 
who  had  the  right  to  judge  me,  a  direct  issue,  as  to  the 
propriety  of  my  vote.  My  name  was  recorded  on  the 
journal  of  the  Senate  as  a  supporter  of  the  resolution 
which  incurred  his  censure  ;  and  was  registered  on  his 
protest  in  conjunction  with  those  of  all  the  others  whom 
that  strange  official  paper  denounced.  Under  such  cir 
cumstances  I  thought  it  unworthy  of  me  to  shun  the 
trial  he  desired,  and  contend  only  by  substitute,  for  the 
principles  which  had  governed  my  official  conduct.  I 
thought  it  due  to  him,  as  well  as  to  myself,  and  still 
more  to  the  people,  to  stand  at  the  post  which  was  the 
object  of  his  assault,  meet  the  question  which  he  had 
raised,  and  abide  the  determination  of  the  tribunal  to 
which  he  had  appealed.  Had  I  then  announced  the  desire 
which  I  had  long  felt,  to  retire  from  public  life,  I  might 
have  been  regarded  as  a  recreant  to  the  political  faith 
with  which  I  entered  your  service,  and  with  which,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  I  will  live  and  die. 

"  The  question  between  us  is  now  decided,  by  the 
only  authority  before  which  I  will  bow,  or  to  which  I 
have  ever  been  amenable  —  the  authority  of  the  free 
citizens  of  Delaware.  Two-thirds  of  each  branch  of  her 
Legislature  are  avowedly  opposed  to  the  principles  of  the 


U6  MEMOIR    OF 

Administration,  having  been,  on  that  ground,  elected  by 
the  people  on  the  eleventh  day  of  this  month  ;  and 
they  are  men  whom  no  machinery  of  the  Executive  can 
influence  or  control.  I  am,  and  under  other  circum 
stances,  I  should  have  been,  uninfluenced  in  my  present 
course  by  the  determination  of  other  States.  If  the  cur 
rent  of  Executive  power  in  other  sections  of  the  country, 
instead  of  being  resisted  as  it  has  been,  had  set  onward 
like  the  Pontic  sea,  which  knows  no  retiring  ebb,  still, 
true  to  the  interests  and  principles  of  the  State,  I  should 
have  been  as  anxious  to  represent  her,  had  other  con 
siderations  permitted  it,  as  if  she  had  been  sustained  by 
the  whole  nation.  But  now,  after  five  years  of  public 
service,  during  the  greater  part  of  which  I  have  been, 
necessarily,  absent  from  home,  finding  that  the  post 
which  I  am  about  to  leave  will  be  occupied  by  a  suc 
cessor  of  the  same  political  principles,  I  tender  you, 
my  fellow -citizens,  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for 
that  support  which,  through  my  whole  term  of  service, 
has  never  deserted  me,  and  desire  to  relinquish  public 
office.  As  your  Legislature  will  not  meet  till  the  month 
of  January,  I  hold  it  to  be  due  to  you  to  remain  in  the 
Senate  till  your  immediate  representatives  can  have  an 
opportunity  of  selecting  my  successor. 

"JOHN  M.  CLAYTON." 
DOVER,  DEL.,  Nov.  24,  1834. 

To   this   address   the   following    comment    was   added 
by  the  editor  of  the  Register: 

"  The  amount  of  this  .(as  we  understand  it)  is  no 
more  than  that  Mr.  Clayton  will  decline  a  re-election,  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  of  Delaware.  This  pro- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


117 


ceeding  we  think  will  be  (for  so  it  ought*}  regretted  by 
the  good  men  of  all  parties  in  the  Senate  —  honoring 
talents,  and  respecting  private  worth,  rather  than  party." 

Mr.  Clayton  continued  in  the  Senate  till  the  meeting 
of  the  Legislature  in  January,  1835,  when  he  transmitted 
to  his  friends  in  that  body  a  letter  declining  a  re-elec 
tion,  and  resigning  the  residue  of  his  Senatorial  term. 
The  answer  made  to  him  by  the  Legislature,  imme 
diately  afterwards,  was  a  certificate  of  re-election  for 
another  term  of  six  years,  and  a  letter  signed  by  two 
thirds  of  both  Houses,  insisting  on  his  continuance  in 
the  Senate,  urging  him  by  every  consideration  not  to 
retire,  and,  among  other  things,  stating  the  fact  that  the 
Whig  members  would  find  it  impossible  to  agree  upon 
a  successor,  in  case  he  should  persevere  in  his  inten 
tion  to  leave  the  Senate.  Under  these  circumstances, 
he  found  himself  pressed  by  the  necessity  of  continuing 
in  Congress  until,  at  the  next  biennial  session  of  the 
Legislature,  his  friends  might  agree  upon  a  successor. 

NATIONAL  DEFENCE  —  BENTON'S 
RESOLUTION. 

On  December,  1835,  Mr.  Benton  brought  forward  a 
resolution,  pledging  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury,  after 
deducting  enough  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  Govern 
ment,  to  the  purposes  of  national  defence.  The  object 
ascribed  to  him  by  his  opponents  was  to  arrogate  to 

himself  and  his  party  the   exclusive  title  to  the   charac- 

15 


ng  MEMOIR    OF 

ter  of  friends  of  national  defence  ;  to  attack  the  Whigs, 
by  holding  out  the  idea  that  they  were  its  enemies ; 
and,  if  possible,  to  drive  them,  by  his  denunciations,  to 
do  some  act,  in  consequence  of  which  he  and  others 
might  be  able  to  fasten  upon  them  the  odious  charge 
of  hostility  to  the  fortifications  of  the  country,  and  of 
neglect  to  prepare  for  a  war  which  then  seemed  to 
threaten  us  with  France.  At  the  close  of  the  session 
of  1835,  the  Whigs  in  the  Senate  had  voted  down 
what  they  considered  the  monstrous  proposition,  then 
sprung  upon  them  after  midnight  of  the  day  on  which 
they  were  to  adjourn,  to  appropriate  three  millions  of 
dollars  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  to  be  expend 
ed  by  the  President  as  he  might  think  proper!  Mr. 
Benton's  resolution  was  the  signal  for  an  attack  upon 
the  Whigs  in  and  out  of  the  Senate,  for  having  dared  to 
vote  down  a  proposition  they  deemed  outrageous.  The 
debate  on  the  resolution  became  general  on  both  sides  ; 
in  the  course  of  which  Mr.  Webster  declared  that  he 
could  not  vote  for  such  a  measure,  were  the  guns  of 
the  French  battering  at  the  walls  of  the  Capitol.  You 
do  not  need  to  be  reminded  that  the  danger  of  a 
war  with  France  at  this  period  arose  out  of  the  re 
fusal  of  the  French  Chambers  to  vote  an  appropriation 
of  25,000,000  francs  to  pay  the  indemnity  agreed  upon 
in  Mr.  Rives'  treaty  for  spoliations  on  our  commerce, 
under  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.  Mr.  Webster  was 
furiously  attacked  both  in  and  out  of  Congress  for 
having  given  utterance  to  a  sentiment,  which  party 
men,  for  party  purposes,  held  to  be  treasonable  to  the 


JOHN   M.    CLAYTON.  llg 

nation.  In  the  midst  of  the  bitter  denunciations  of 
him,  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  a  member  of  -  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  Massachusetts,  made  and 
persisted  in  repeated  attacks  upon  the  Senate  for 
having  voted  against  the  three-million  amendment  for 
the  fortification  bill  of  1835 — the  proposition  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made :  and  in  the  progress 
of  one  of  his  most  violent  philippics,  to  the  confusion 
of  his  own  friends  and  the  delight  of  his  enemies,  he 
declared  that  for  a  man  who  had  uttered  such  senti 
ments  as  Mr.  Webster's,  "  there  would  be  but  one  step 
more  (a  natural  and  easy  one  to  take),  and  that  would 
be  with  the  enemy  at  the  walls  of  the  Capitol,  to  join 
him  in  battering  them  down. "  The  political  enemies 
of  Mr.  Webster  in  the  House  attempted  to  give  point 
to  this  most  cruel  and  unjust  attack  by  giving  three 
cheers  to  the  orator.  It  was  at  this  period  of  the  de 
bate,  then  going  on  in  both  Houses,  that  Mr.  Clay 
ton  felt  himself  called  upon,  as  well  by  the  demands 
of  private  friendship  for  Mr.  Webster,  as  by  the  dic 
tates  of  public  duty,  to  battle  with  the  enemies  of  his 
party  in  their  attacks,  to  vindicate  his  friends,  and  to 
turn  the  odium  of  the  public  upon  their  calumniators, 
if  possible.  The  task  was,  indeed,  a  delicate  and  diffi 
cult  one :  but  it  was  triumphantly  accomplished.  On 
the  8th  of  February,  1835,  Mr.  Clayton  commenced  his 
speech  on  Mr.  Benton's  resolution,  by  announcing  his 
intention,  before  he  sat  down,  to  move  to  strike  the 
word  "  surplus "  out  of  the  resolution,  —  a  motion 
which,  to  use  a  nautical  phrase,  completely  "  took  the 


I2Q  MEMOIR   OF 

wind  out  of  the  sails"  of  Mr.  Benton  —  avowing  him 
self  and  his  party  to  be  the  true  friends  of  national 
defence,  attacking  the  opposite  party  for  all  their  neglect 
to  prepare  for  war  during  the  whole  time  when  they  had 
held  a  majority  in  Congress,  and  spreading  before 
them  such  a  history  of  their  inattention,  as  he  claimed 
it  to  be,  to  the  real  wants  of  the  country  in  this  re 
spect,  as  soon  convinced  them  that  this  war  was  a 
game  that  two  could  play  at.  He  discussed  the  con 
stitutionality  of  a  three-million  amendment,  and,  as  his 
friends  said,  hurled  back  the  imputations  of  the  other 
party  with  such  effect  against  themselves,  as  made  even 
the  least  considerate  among  them  anxious  to  dismiss 
the  controversy.  Then  followed  that  vindication  of 
Mr.  Webster's  sentiment,  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  pub 
lished,  changed  the  torrent  of  obloquy  against  Mr.  Web 
ster,  throughout  the  country,  into  one  general  burst 
of  applause.  Here  is  an  extract  from  this  part  of  his 
speech;  but  it  is  impossible  to  comprehend  the  force 
of  it,  without  reading  the  discussion  of  the  constitutional 
question  which  precedes  it.  The  space  devoted  to  this 
memoir,  will  permit  scarcely  anything  more  than  ref 
erence  to  the  speech  itself.  (It  should  be  observed 
that  the  appropriation,  referred  to  by  him  in  this 
extract,  was  that  above  mentioned,  proposed  to  be 
placed  in  the  President's  hands,  without  designation 
of  the  specific  objects  to  which  it  should  be  applied.) 

"Viewing  the  proposed  appropriation  of  three  millions 
of  dollars,  without  restriction,  specification,  or  limitation 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  I2I 

of  the  objects  other  than  the  naval  and  military  service, 
as  not  only  unconstitutional,  but  as  destructive  of  the 
first  principles  of  representative  government ;  having 
considered  and  expressed  his  solemn  conviction,  after 
a  year's  deliberation,  that  it  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
introduction  of  dictatorial  power  in  this  Government, 
and  contained  the  very  language  in  which  a  dictator 
might  be  appointed,  under  a  pretence  of  some  future 
pressing  emergency,  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster),  in  the  midst  of  a  strain 
of  fervid  eloquence  and  indignant  remonstrance  against 
the  attempted  outrage,  which  has  not  been  equalled  in 
the  debate,  and  cannot  be  excelled,  had  declared  that 
'  if  the  proposition  were  now  before  us,  and  the  guns  of 
the  enemy  were  battering  down  the  walls  of  the  Capitol, 
he  would  not  agree  to  it ;  that  the  people  of  this 
country  have  an  interest,  a  property,  an  inheritance,  in 
the  Constitution,  against  the  value  of  which  forty  Capi 
tols  do  not  weigh  the  twentieth  part  of  one  poor 
scruple.'  Taking  authority  for  so  doing  from  another 
part  of  the  Capitol,  I  read  the  following  remark,  as 
published  as  the  National  Intelligencer,  in  reference  to 
this  sentiment :  '  Sir,  for  a  man  uttering  such  senti 
ments,  there  would  be  but  one  step  more  (a  natural 
and  easy  one  to  take),  and  that  would  be  with  the 
enemy  at  the  walls  of  the  Capitol,  to  join  him  in  bat 
tering  them  down.'  And  he  who  published  this,  has 
also  published  that  when  he  uttered  it,  he  '  was  inter 
rupted  by  a  spontaneous  burst  of  feeling  and  applause.' 
But,  he  adds,  '  the  indiscretion  was  momentary,  and  the 
most  respectful  silence  followed.' 

"  Sir,  I  pass  over,  without  notice,  the  account  given 
of  the  'applause,'  and  '  a  spontaneous  burst  of  feeling,' 
and  '  indiscretion,'  and  then,  '  the  most  respectful 


I22  MEMOIR    OF 

silence.'  Indeed,  I  know  nothing  of  these  allegations, 
except  as  I  find  them  here  stated.  But  in  regard  to 
that  denunciation  of  my  honorable  friend  from  Massa 
chusetts  (Mr.  Webster),  who  is  this  day  elsewhere 
necessarily  detained,  and  in  reference  to  the  particular 
individual  who  was  the  author  of  that  denunciation,  I 
have  something  to  say. 

"  The  opinion,  expressed  in  this  denunciation,  is, 
that  it  would  be  a  natural  and  easy  step  for  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  to  take,  to  join  the  ene 
mies  of  his  country  in  war,  —  in  other  words,  to  turn 
traitor,  and  merit  by  his  treason  the  most  ignomin 
ious  of  all  deaths,  with  an  immortality  of  infamy  beyond 
the  grave ! 

"  And  for  what.  The  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
had  expressed  a  preference  for  the  Constitution  to  the 
Capitol  of  his  country.  He  had  dared  to  declare  that 
he  prized  the  Magna  Charta  of  American  liberty,  the 
sacred  bond  of  our  Union,  the  tie  which  binds  together 
twelve  millions  of  freemen,  above  the  stones  and  mortar 
which  compose  the  crumbling  mass  within  whose  walls 
we  are  assembled.  '  The  very  head  and  front  of  his 
offending  hath  this  extent,  no  more.'  No  man  here  has 
questioned,  in  the  most  violent  moments  of  party  excite 
ment,  nor  amidst  the  fiercest  of  all  political  strife,  his 
purity  of  purpose,  in  debate.  Grant  to  him  what  all 
others,  who  have  any  title  to  the  character  of  gentle 
men,  demand  for  themselves  —  that  he  believed  what  he 
said;  grant  that,  in  -his  judgment,  as  well  as  that  of 
many  here,  the  very  existence  of  our  liberties  is  in 
volved  in  the  surrender  of  the  principle  he  contended 
for;  grant  that  the  concentration  of  legislative  and  ex 
ecutive  power  in  the  hands  of  a  single  man  is  the 
death  blow  to  the  Constitution ;  and  that  the  Senator  was 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


123 


right  in  considering  the  proposed  appropriation  as  estab 
lishing  the  very  principle  which  gave  that  fatal  blow, — 
and  who  is  he  that,  thus  believing,  would  support  that 
position,  because  the  guns  of  '  the  enemy  were  battering 
at  the  walls  of  the  Capitol'  ?  Where  is  the  coward, 
where  is  the  traitor,  who  would  not  rather  see  the 
Capitol,  than  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  in  ruins  ? 
or  who  would  lead  himself  to  the  establishment  of  a 
despotism  among  us  with  a  view  to  save  the  building 
for  the  despot  to  revel  in  ?  Sir,  in  the  days  when 
Themistocles  led  the  Athenians  to  victory  at  Salamis,  he 
advised  them  to  surrender  their  Capitol  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Constitution  of  their  country.  That  gallant 
people  rose,  under  the  impulse  of  patriotism,  as  one 
man,  with  a  stern  resolution  to  yield  life  itself  rather 
than  abandon  their  liberties,  and  surrender  the  proud 
privilege  of  legislating  for  themselves,  to  the  delegate  of 
a  Persian  despot  who  offered  them  'all  their  own  domin 
ions,  together  with  an  accession  of  territory  ample  as 
their  wishes,  upon  the  single  condition  that  they  should 
receive  law  and  suffer  him  to  preside  in  Greece.'  At 
that  eventful  period  of  their  history,  Chrysalis  alone 
proposed  the  surrender  of  their  Constitution  to  save  the 
Capitol ;  and  they  stoned  him  to  death !  The  public 
indignation  was  not  yet  satisfied :  for  the  Athenian  ma 
trons  then  rose  and  inflicted  the  same  punishment  upon 
his  wife !  Leaving  their  Capitol,  and  their  noble  city, 
rich  as  it  was  with  the  productions  of  every  art,  and 
glittering  all  over  with .  the  proudest  trophies  and  the 
most  splendid  temples  of  the  world;  deserting,  in  the 
cause  of  free  government,  the  very  land  that  gave  them 
birth,  they  embarked  on  board  their  ships,  and  fought 
that  battle,  the  name  of  which  has  made  the  bosoms  of 
freemen  to  thrill  with  sympathy  in  all  the  ages  that 


I24  MEMOIR   OF 

have  followed  it,  and  shall  cause  the  patriot's  heart  to 
beat  higher  with  emotion,  through  countless  ages  to 
come. 

"  I  repeat,  sir,  what  no  man,  who  knows  the  Sen 
ator,  has  ever  doubted,  and  what  no  man  who  has  a 
proper  respect  for  himself  will  even  question,  that  he 
was  sincere  in  declaring  that  he  received  the  proposi 
tion  under  debate  as  involving  the  surrender  of  the 
most  valuable  trust  reposed  in  us  by  the  Constitution, 
to  a  single  man ;  and  as  one  which,  while  it  dele 
gates  the  legislative  power  to  the  Executive,  establishes 
a  precedent  to  prostrate  the  Constitution  forever.  Then 
tell  me,  what  should  be  the  fate  of  that  man  (if  such 
a  man  can  be  found)  who,  having  owed  his  elevation 
to  the  highest  office  in  the  world  to  that  gentleman 
and  his  friends,  and  having  been  sustained  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  it  by- the  exertion  of  all  the  power,  of 
that  giant  intellect,  which  is  now  the  pride  of  the  Sen 
ate  and  the  boast  of  the  country,  could,  without  other 
provocation,  have  published  that  such  a  friend,  after 
giving  utterance  to  such  a  sentiment  as  he  did  in  de- 
bat6  here,  would  find  it  a  very  natural  and  easy  step 
to  turn  traitor  to  his  country,  by  joining  with  her  ene 
mies  in  war?  Sir,  all  good  men  will  say  that  the 
convincing  argument  which  could  have  induced,  from 
such  a  quarter,  such  a  remark,  the  author  of  that 
comment  will  find,  not  in  the  observation  he  has  con 
demned,  but  in  his  own  heart;  and  those  who  are  ac 
quainted  with  past  events  will  add  that  it  has  pro 
ceeded  from  one  who  has,  habitually,  found  it  a  nat 
ural  and  easy  step  to  turn  traitor  to  his  friends.  Such 
a  man  should  never  be  suffered,  by  honorable  men, 
to  stand  in  any  party  again ;  for  this  unprovoked  de 
nunciation  proves  that  its  author  will  be  false  to  all 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  I2c 

parties,  and  true  to  no  friend.  I  will  do  those  in 
power  the  justice  to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  they  have 
even  invited  his  embraces  or  proffered  him  any  office, 
however  that  may  be  the  true  object  for  which  he 
has  thus  shamefully  denounced  his  friend  and  aban 
doned  his  party.  No,  sir;  if  he  be  a  political  traitor, 
they 

"  Gave  him   no   instance   why  he  should  do  treason 
Unless  to  dub  him  with  the  name  of  traitor. " 

The  following  'is  a  specimen  of  the  defence  of 
his  own  party  from  the  attack  of  Mr.  Buchanan  and 
others,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  the  war  was 
carried  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy ;  and  is  part  of 
the  same  speech,  just  quoted,  delivered  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1836,  upon  the  subject  of  national  defence  : 

"  The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania,  with  a  view  to 
make  up  the  issue  in  such  shape  as  would  put  the 
Senate  on  trial  with  the  best  advantage  to  himself, 
announced  that  the  true  question  for  discussion  was. 
Who  is  blamable  for  the  present  condition  of  our  sea 
board  ?  Sir,  I  shall  not  avoid  the  examination  of  that 
question.  It  presents  no  difficulty.  As  to  the  fact, 
upon  which  he  dwelt  so  earnestly,  that  it  is  defence 
less,  he  has  already  seen  that  I  concur  with  him  and 
others,  who  have  proclaimed  its  defenceless  condition. 
He  may  add  as  much  more  coloring  to  that  picture, 
of  the  danger  arising  from  this  neglect,  as  his  imagi 
nation  can  supply  him  with,  and  I  shall  not  seek  to 
deface  or  obscure  it.  He  may  ring  it,  again  and  again, 
in  the  ears  of  the  people,  that,  in  the  event  of  a 
rupture  with  a  foreign  country,  our  cities  would  be 

16 


I26  MEMOIR    OF 

sacked,  our  coast  pillaged,  and  our  people  butchered. 
The  more  he  magnifies  the  danger,  the  greater  will 
be  the  condemnation  of  those  who,  for  seven  years 
past,  have  held  the  power  to  prevent  this  state  of 
things,  and  have  neglected  their  duty.  Sir,  his  political 
friends  have  held  the  reins  for  a  longer  period  ;  for 
they  had  their  majority  in  Congress,  before  the  termi 
nation  of  the  last  Administration.  In  the  other  House 
they  have,  ever  since,  held  an  overwhelming  influence  ; 
and  in  this,  with  the  exception  of  the  last  three  years 
only,  they  have  also  been  in  a  constant  majority.  The 
other  House  never  proposed  a  measure  for  defence, 
before  last  session,  in  which  the  Senate  refused  to 
concur;  and,  what  is  more  worthy  of  note,  they  never 
proposed  a  bill  for  defence,  to  which  the  Senate  did 
not  add,  largely,  by  amendment.  For  seven  years, 
during  which  time  I  have  held  a  seat  here,  the  action 
of  the  Senate  was  always  quite  as  prompt  as  that  of 
the  other  House,  on  these  subjects ;  and,  indeed,  if 
my  memory  be  correct,  we  were  generally  in  advance 
of  them.  Sir,  it  is  all  in  vain  that  the  gentleman 
seeks  to  cast  that  fearful  responsibility,  arising  out  of 
more  than  seven  years'  neglect  of  our  Atlantic  sea 
board,  upon  the  minority  in  Congress.  In  vain  does 
he  invoke  the  judgment  of  the  public  against  that 
Senate  which,  during  the  two  or  three  years  when  the 
Administration  has  not  been  able  to  control  its  vote, 
has  been  made  the  scapegoat  to  bear  nearly  all  the 
other  neglects  and  transgressions  of  those  in  power. 
The  fact  is,  and  every  man  now  within  the  sound  of 
my  voice  knows  it,  or  ought  to  know  it,  that  not 
only  has  our  whole  system  of  improvement  been 
checked,  but  the  defences  of  our  country  have  been 
shamefully  neglected,  since  the  present  party  came  into 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


127 


power,  on  the  miserable  pretext  of  paying  off  the 
national  debt, —  a  debt  which  was  never  pressing,  and 
which  would  have  been  easily  extinguished  by  the 
operation  of  the  old  Sinking  Fund  Act,  long  before  it 
could  possibly  have  been  felt  as  an  injury,  if  internal 
improvements  had  been  still  properly  encouraged,  and 
our  sea-coast  had  been  properly  fortified.  Witness, 
now,  that  wonderful  exhibition  of  financial  skill  and 
statesmanship,  by  which,  when  all  other  debts  had  been 
disposed  of,  the  odd  thirteen  millions,  drawing  interest 
at  only  three  per  cent.,  and  nearly  all  in  the  hands  of 
foreigners,  was  paid  off,  in  spite  of  all  remonstrances, 
for  the  sake  of  making  the  vain-glorious  boast  that, 
during  this  Administration,  the  whole  national  debt  was 
extinguished.  At  the  time  we  were  paying  these  three 
per  cents,  the  army,  the  navy,  the  fortifications,  the 
roads  and  canals,  the  improvement  of  our  rivers,  and 
even  the  ordinary  facilities  for  commerce,  were  neglected. 
Light-house  bills,  and  bills  to  distribute  a  portion  of 
the  avails  of  the  public  domain  among  the  States,  for 
the  purposes  of  improvement  and  education,  were  either 
voted  down,  or  vetoed  down,  and  all  for  glory, —  ay, 
for  the  glory  of  paying  off  the  national  debt,  by  with 
drawing  from  the  people  the  use  of  their  money, 
which  was  surely  worth  to  them,  not  only  for  defence 
but  for  improvement,  the  legal  rate  of  interest,  and 
extinguishing  a  debt  in  the  hands  of  foreign  creditors 
drawing  three  per  cent.  only.  Why,  .sir,  the  fact  is 
notorious,  that  such  has  been  this  miserable  and  mor 
bid  excitement,  industriously  kept  up  to  gratify  party 
pride  and  folly,  that  scarce  a  week  has  elapsed,  within 
the  last  seven  years,  in  which  some  newspaper  editor 
has  not  reminded  us  of  the  glory  of  the  Administra 
tion  in  paying  off  the  national  debt;  yet,  during  all 


J2g  MEMOIR    OF 

this  time,  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  says,  our 
whole  seaboard  has  been  left  naked  to  any  invader, 
our  cities  have  been  constantly  in  danger  of  being 
sacked*,  our  coast  pillaged,  and  our  people  butchered, 
without  the  means  of  resistance  in  the  event  of  war. 
This  glory  has  left  us,  all  the  while,  at  the  mercy  of 
any  foreign  power,  which  might  have  chosen  at  any 
moment  to  assail  us. 

"  The  only  salvo  now  relied  .upon  to  sustain  those 
in  power  from  their  own  charge  against  the  Senate,  of 
leaving  the  whole  seaboard  defenceless,  is,  that  a  ma 
jority  (not  all)  of  their  party  friends  in  Congress  did, 
at  the  last  moment  of  the  last  session,  propose  and 
vote  for  this  three  million  amendment.  But  what  could 
have  been  effected  with  that  money,  if  we  had  granted 
it?  Would  that  have  built  up  fortifications,  and  put 
the  navy  and  army  on  a  war  establishment  within  the 
nine  months  allowed  for  its  expenditure?  Sir,  if  it  had 
been  applied  to  no  mischievous  purpose  calculated  to 
induce  a  war  with  France,  which  some  think  was  its 
real  design,  its  effects  upon  the  sea-coast  in  erecting 
forts  would  not  have  increased  the  permanent  security 
of  the  country,  to  a  perceptible  extent,  before  the 
meeting  of  Congress.  If,  through  the  whole  period 
during  which  this  Administration  has  been  in  power, 
we  had  been  regularly  progressing  with  a  system  of  na 
tional  defence,  properly  adapted  to  the  wants  and  means 
of  the  republic,  we  should  hardly  yet  have  been  in  a  state 
of  preparation  for  war,  becoming  such  a  country  and 
such  glorious  institutions  as  ours.  Labor  itself  cannot 
always  be  commanded  by  money,  and  time  is  indis 
pensable  in  the  proper  construction  of  all  great  works: 
and  an  error  not  uncommon  in  regard  to  our  public 
works  of  every  description,  has  been  to  do  in  months 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  I2g 

what  should  be  the  work  of  years.  But,  in  order  to 
show  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  and  his  friends 
how  utterly  indefensible  they  are  when  arraigned  on 
their  own  charges,  let  us  now  concede,  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  argument,  that  this  "  three  million  amend 
ment,"  upon  which  they  relied,  would  have  been  suffi 
cient  for  putting  the  army  and  navy  on  a  war  estab 
lishment  ;  that  it  would  have  effected  all  this  in  nine 
months,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  expend  it.  I 
ask  them,  how  comes  it  about  that  they  have 
suffered  two  whole  months  of  the  present  session  to 
pass  away  without  renewing  this  or  some  similar  prop 
osition  ?  And  how  do  they  excuse  themselves  for  not 
having  proposed  so  salutary  a  measure  at  an  earlier 
day  during  the  last  session  ?  The  moment  of  the  vote 
on  that  amendment,  the  gentleman  says,  he  shall 
always  look  upon  as  the  proudest  moment  of  his  life. 
Doubtless,  in  his  estimation,  it  was  a  most  happy  vote 
for  him.  Then,  why  not  renew  it  ?  Why  'does  that 
patriotism  whose  midnight  vigils  receive  so  much  ap 
plause,  slumber  during  the  broad  daylight,  and  why 
has  it  slept  so  long  ?  He  has  known  that  the  only 
objection,  of  many  among  us,  to  the  proposition,  was 
a  constitutional  objection,  which  by  altering  the  proposi 
tion  from  a  general  to  a  specific  one,  he  could  obviate. 
Then,  why  has  he  not  proposed  it,  or  something 
like  it,  for  the  last  two  months,  during  all  which  time, 
according  to  his  own  language,  we  have  incurred  the 
danger  of  having  our  cities  sacked,  our  coast  pillaged, 
and  our  people  butchered,  for  want  of  it?  Since  last 
session,  all  intercourse  with  France  has  been  sus 
pended  ;  a  powerful  fleet,  we*  are  told,  has  been  hov 
ering  near  our  coast,  and  acting  as  a  fleet  of  observa 
tion,  and,  with  the  vigilance  of  a  hawk,  ready  to  stoop 


MEMOIR    OF 

on  our  unprotected  commerce,  from  its  commanding 
position,  or  to  attack  our  naked  seaboard  at  the  slight 
est  notice. 

"To  the  question,  why  this  measure  was  proposed 
only  at  the  last  moment  of  the  last  session,  the  honor 
able  member  from  Pennsylvania  has  already  attempted 
an  answer.  He  took  especial  pains  to  bring  us  to  the 
point  of  time  at  which  the  amendment  was  rejected. 
His  object  seemed  to  be  to  demonstrate  that  then  the 
patriot  should  have  spoken  out,  by  the  surrender  of  his 
constitutional  scruples,  and  the  delegation  of  his  repre 
sentative  power  over  the  public  treasure,  to  the  Presi 
dent.  He  reviewed  the  state  of  our  relations  with 
France,  for  the  very  purpose  of  showing  that,  at  that 
period,  our  affairs  were  at  a  peculiarly  dangerous  crisis, 
and  labored  to  excuse  himself  and  his  friends  who 
brought  forward  this  proposition  at  that  time,  by  making 
the  impression  upon  his  hearers,  that  there  was  just 
then,  a  ne*w  impulse  given,  by  recent  intelligence  from 
France,  to  the  adoption  of  measures  of  a  hostile  charac 
ter.  But,  sir,  most  unfortunately  for  this  excuse,  the 
intelligence,  to  which  he  has  referred,  was  decidedly  of 
a  pacific  character,  and  was  precisely  that  very  informa 
tion  by  which  any  reasonable  man,  however  apprehen 
of  danger  before  its  arrival,  would  have  been  convinced 
that  then  there  was  not  the  slightest  apparent  necessity 
for  a  resort  to  any  measures  of  a  hostile  character." 

Mr.  Clayton  closed  his  speech  (the  best,  in  the 
judgment  of  some  of  his  friends,  that  he  ever  delivered 
in  the  Senate)  with  his  promised  motion  to  strike  the 
word  "  surplus"  out  of  the  resolution,  thus  pledging 
every  dollar  of  the  revenue  for  the  national  defence,  which 
was  carried  by  a  large  majority.  The  division  of  this 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l^l 

question  threw  all  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  party 
into  a  meagre  minority,  as  all  the  Whigs  voted  in 
favor  of  it,  and  not  a  few  of  their  opponents,  who  were 
not  willing  to  be  outdone  by  the  Whigs  in  promising 
magnificent  preparations  for  war  ;  and  then  this  famous 
resolution  was  passed  by  a  unanimous  vote.  Those 
who  had  introduced  it,  and  who  had  expended  so  much 
labor  in  support  of  it,  by  these  means  failed  of  their 
objects.  The  Whigs  refused  to  be  arrayed  in  hostility 
against  the  national  defence,  and  gained  the  credit  of 
being  its  principal  advocates ;  while  Mr.  Benton  saw 
that  his  secret  and  dearest  object  was  utterly  lost  — 
which  was  to  prevent  the  passage  of  any  distribution 
law  during  that  session'  giving  the  immense  surplus  in 
the  Treasury,  amounting  to  nearly  forty  millions  of 
dollars,  in  just  proportion  to  the  States.  Shortly  after 
this  party  triumph,  as  it  was  considered,  the  favorite 
measure  of  the  Whigs,  that  of  distributing  the  surplus 
revenue  to  the  States,  was  introduced,  and  carried 
through  both  Houses  of  Congress,  in  spite  of  Mr. 
Benton  and  his  celebrated  resolution.  By  the  amend 
ment  of  Mr.  Clayton,  the  resolution  had  become  a 
harmless  and  barren  generality. 

With  this  session  of  Congress,  Mr.  Clayton  intended 
to  terminate  his  Senatorial  career.  In  the  fall  of  1836, 
resolved  not  to  be  presented  by  his  friends  in  the  Legisla 
ture  a  second  time,  he  resigned  the  residue  of  his  term 
of  office  to  his  friend  Charles  Polk,  the  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Delaware  by  the  death  of  Governor  Caleb  P. 
Bennett,  and  betook  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 


MEMOIR    OF 

fession ;  and  in  the  January  following,  as  before  stated, 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  State.  Imme 
diately  after  Mr.  Clayton's  resignation  became  known  to 
his  brother  Senators,  in  December,  1836,  he  received 
from  gentlemen  of  all  parties  in  that  body  the  highest 
professions  of  regard  and  esteem  for  his  private  character 
and  public  services;  and  on  the  3d  of  January,  1837, 
Mr.  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  political  enemy,  but  a 
generous  one,  expressed  in  the  warmest  terms  his  ad 
miration  of  his  high  character,  pronouncing  him  "a  man 
of  as  clear  a  head  and  honest  a  heart  as  ever  adorned 
this  chamber."  Such  is  his  language,  as  reported  in 
the  National  Intelligencer  shortly  after. 

STATE  CONVENTION. 
i 

In  the  year  1831,  a  convention  of  the  people  was 
held  to  revise  our  Constitution.  The  subject  had  been 
agitated  for  some  years  with  more  or  less  of  spirit, 
until  finally  an  act  was  passed  to  test  the  popular 
sense.  The  result  being  a  majority  of  votes  in  favor 
of  it,  a  convention  was  duly  called,  and  held  its 
session  in  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Dover,  in  No 
vember  of  that  year.  Though  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate  at  the  time,  Mr.  Clayton  was  elected  one 
of  the  ten  persons  to  represent  Kent  County,  and  took 
a  very  prominent  part  in  the  proceedings  of  that  body. 
Among  the  other  members,  were  three  from  New  Cas 
tle  county,  of  great  distinction  among  us,  —  Willard 
Hall,  James  Rogers,  and  George  Read,  Jr.  To  say 


JOHN  .M.    CLAYTON.  j^ 

nothing  of  the  other  men  of  note  and  influence,  who 
were  their  colleagues,  it  may  be  safely  averred  that,  as 
a  whole,  the  body  was  as  well  qualified  for  discussion 
and  legislation,  whether  fundamental  or  merely  parliamen 
tary,  as  ever  sat  in  this  State.  All  the  members  were 
men  of  large  experience  in  the  affairs  of  life,  and  the 
four  I  have  named  were  universally  regarded  as  being 
without  superiors  as  lawyers  also. 

The  chief  object  of  the  convention  was  to  reform 
the  then  existing  judicial  system,  which  for  a  long  time 
had  been  felt  to  be  unnecessarily  cumbrous.  There 
were  two  courts  of  concurrent  jurisdiction  for  the  trial 
of  cases  by  jury  —  the  Supreme  Court  and  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  ;  and  the  Associate  Judges  in  each  were 
laymen,  incapable,  of  course,  from  want  of  professional 
education,  of  passing  intelligently  upon  questio/is  of  law. 
Different  plans  were  proposed  and  thoroughly  discussed, 
but  the  convention  finally  settled  upon  that  which  now 
exists,  —  which  was  Mr.  Clayton's  plan,  and  has  borne 
the  test  of  experience  for  forty-eight  years. 

Other  subjects  engaged  the  attention  of  the  conven 
tion,  most  of  them  of  a, minor  character,  but  all  received, 
at  his  hands  and  those  of  the  other  members,  full  exam 
ination.  In  fact,  but  one  spirit  animated  the  entire  body 
of  members  —  that  of  doing  their  full  duty  as  dele 
gates  and  as  citizens,  irrespective  of  any  considerations 
but  such  as  should  govern  men  of  integrity  and  patriot 
ism.  This  convention  gave  us  biennial  sessions  of  the 
Legislature  (I  think  if  they  could  at  that  time  have 
looked  into  futurity,  they  would  have  made  them  less 

'7 


MEMOIR   OF 

frequent  even),  and  enacted  a  most  important  clause 
with  respect  to  acts  of  incorporation  —  requiring  the 
concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  each  branch  of  the  General 
Assembly,  to  pass  them.  This  feature  was  greatly 
approved  by  Mr.  Clayton,  who  was  well  aware  of  the 
danger  of  multiplying  corporate  bodies,  and  of  giving 
charters  conferring  such  large  powers  as  were  inimical 
to  the  interest  of  the  public.  This  the  debates  show. 
There  was  superadded  to  it,  at  the  instance  of  Dr. 
Handy,  of  New  Castle  county,  who  was  its  mover,  the 
additional  clause,  also  approved  by  Mr.  Clayton,  reserv 
ing  to  the  Legislature  an  express  power  of  revocation. 
No  case  has  yet  arisen,  to  test  definitely  the  full  extent 
and  meaning  of  this  clause  —  the  State  having  fortunately 
had  no  such  conflict  with  any  of  her  creations,  as  re 
quired  the.  exercise  of  the  power  reserved ;  but  the  ad 
vantage  of  the  prior  provision  has  been  experienced 
over  and  over  again,  in  the  defeat  of  purely  selfish 
schemes,  as  well  as  some  of  very  doubtful,  not  to  say 
perilous,  character  —  such  as  the  mammoth  bank  charter, 
as  it  was  then  characterized,  at  the  extra  session  of  the 
Legislature  in  1836.  It  will  not  be  deemed  amiss,  I 
feel  sure,  to  give  the  names  of  the  persons  who  com 
posed  that  convention — that  it  may  be  seen  how  care 
ful  the  people  of  Delaware  were,  at  that  day,  to  select 
for  important  trusts,  men  of  the  very  best  qualifications 
in  all  respects.  While  these  gentlemen  were  nominated 
for  election  by  potitical  parties,  there  was  at  that  time  a 
spirit  so  conservative,  influencing  the  minds  of  politicians, 
that  they  rarely  offered  for  public  suffrage,  any  but 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


135 


the  best  qualified  men  on  both  sides.  The  journals  of 
our  Legislature  in  those  days  show  that  the  members  of 
the  Houses  were  selected  from  the  most  fit  of  the  people ; 
and  that  each  House  had  always  in  it  at  least  two  men 
who,  from  education  and  habit,  were  able  not  only  them 
selves  to  understand,  but,  by  discussion  and  examination, 
to  make  their  fellow  memoers  thoroughly  comprehend, 
also,  every  proposition  submitted  for  their  decision. 
Every  one  knows  that  it  is  not  so  now,  —  that  nothing 
is  really  discussed  in  the  Legislature,  —  that,  with  the 
most  honest  intentions,  members  are  constantly  voting 
in  ignorance  of  the  real  effect  of  measures,  —  and  that, 
from  want  of  experience,  and  of  intelligent  exposition  of 
schemes  of  legislation,  the  body  is  liable  to  be  imposed 
upon,  and  sometimes  is  grievously  misled,  by  lobbyists, 
whose  opinions  are  volunteered  whenever  occasion  offers 
to  give  them. 

The  names  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  were 
as  follows  : 

NEW  CASTLE  COUNTY. — Willard  Hall,  James  Rogers, 
George  Read,  Jr.,  John  Caulk,  John  Elliott,  Thomas 
W.  Handy,  John  Harlan,  William  Seal,  Thomas  Deakyne. 

KENT  COUNTY. — John  M.  Clayton,  Presley  Spruance, 
Jr.,  Elias  Naudain,  Peter  L.  Cooper,  James  B.  Macomb, 
John  Raymond,  Charles  Polk,  Hughitt  Layton,  Charles 
H.  Haughey. 

SUSSEX  COUNTY. — Thomas  Adams,  Edward  Dingle, 
William  Dunning,  James  Fisher,  James  C.  Lynch, 


MEMOIR   OF 


Joseph    Maull,    William    Nicholls,    Henry     F.     Rodney, 
William   D.  Waples. 


HONORS  FROM  YALE. 

In  the  year  1836  occurred  in  the  public  life  of  Mr. 
Clayton,  an  event  which  gave  him  exceeding  gratifica 
tion  ;  in  fact,  he  regarded  it  with  more  pride  and  satis 
faction,  than  any,  prior  to  that  time.  He  always  so 
spoke  of  it.  In  the  latter  part  of  August  of  that  year 
he  received  the  following  letter,  wholly  unexpected, 
and  all  the  more  agreeable  because  the  honor  it  an 
nounced  had  never  been  even  contemplated  by  him  as 
likely  to  be  conferred.  Here  is  its  language : 

YALE   COLLEGE,   Aug.   25,   1836. 

DEAR  SIR  :  —  It  is  with  no  ordinary  pleasure  that  I 
have  the  privilege  of  stating  to  you  that  the  corpora 
tion  of  this  college,  at  our  late  public  commencement, 
conferred  on  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 
I  am  well  aware  that  these  academic  titles  are  in  dan 
ger  of  losing  their  distinction,  by  being  distributed  with 
too  lavish  a  hand.  But  this  college  aims  to  proceed  on 
the  principle  of  selecting  those  who  will  confer  honor, 
rather  than  receive  it,  by  being  enrolled  in  the  list  of 
its  favorites.  We  present  to  you  this  expression  of 
our  regard,  not  with  the  expectation  of  elevating  the 
rank  which  you  already  hold  in  public  estimation,  but  as 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  jo- 

a  just  tribute  of  respect  to  distinguished  merit.      I  have 
the    honor  to  be,    with    high    and   affectionate    regard, 
Your   friend  and   servant, 

J.    DAY. 
HON.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON. 

Mr.  Clayton  esteemed  it  a  great  honor  to  receive  so 
high  a  degree  from  his  Alma  Mater  —  old  Yale  —  but  felt 
it  to  be  greatly  enhanced  by  the  announcement  made  of 
it  by  President  Jeremiah  Day,  in  his  letter  containing 
such  flattering  language,  and  closing  with  expressions 
of  his  personal  regard.  He  never  assumed  the  title 
conferred  upon  him,  but  cherished  it  none  the  less, 
as  a  voluntary  testimonial,  from  the  highest  quarter,  to 
his  merits  as  a  public  man. 


RESIGNATION   OF  THE   OFFICE    OF 
CHIEF  JUSTICE. 

On  the  i6th  day  of  August,  1839,  Mr.  Clayton  re 
signed  the  office  of  Chief  Justice,  and  entered  with  great 
spirit  into  the  political  canvass  in  support  of  the  can 
didates  of  his  party  —  Harrison  and  Tyler  —  and,  in  the 
course  of  the  campaign,  made,  in  and  out  of  this  State, 
some  of  the  strongest  political  addresses  which  the 
contest  called  forth.  Like  every  thing  he  really  under 
took,  he  did  his  work  thoroughly,  in  that  memorable 
struggle  between  what  had  then  come  to  be  known 
as  the  Whig  party,  and  its  opponent,  the  Democratic 
party.  The  whole  country  was  agitated  by  politics  ;  the 


138 


MEMOIR    OF 


compromise  that  in  1833  had  been  fallen  upon  by  pa 
triotic  men  to  save  the  country  from  civil  war,  was 
operating  so  inefficiently,  to  protect  the  industry  of  the 
country  from  competition  with  the  cheap  labor  and 
money  of  Europe;  the  low  prices  of  agricultural  pro 
duce  were  so  unremunerative  to  the  farmer,  that  from 
one  end  of  the  land  to  the3  other  came  up  the  cry  of 
hard  times,  and  the  demand  of  the  people  for  a  change 
in  the  public  administration.  The  blame  of  this  condi- 
ion  of  things,  by  no  means  unproduced,  as  alleged,  by 
the  failure  to  re-charter  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
was  laid,  by  the  Whigs,  upon  the  Democrats,  their 
adversaries,  who  in  turn  charged  it  all,  in  the  same 
way,  upon  their  accusers  —  and  so,  there  was  about 
as  lively  a  time  as  the  country  has  ever  witnessed. 
All  the  best  orators  of  both  sides  took  the  stump,  as 
we  say,  and  poured  forth  their  eloquence  to  greedy 
ears.  It  can  be  said,  without  exaggeration,  that  at 
no  time  in  our  history,  before  or  since  1840,  has 
such  an  array  of  popular  talent  and  transcendent 
ability  been  made  before  the  public.  Some  of  my  audi 
tors  remember,  no  doubt,  that  famous  period,  and  won 
derful  outpouring  of  the  people  at  Delaware  City  in 
the  spring  of  that  year.  The  attraction  was  the  speeches 
to  be  made  by  three  men,  John  M.  Clayton,  William 
C.  Preston,  and  John  J.  Crittenden ;  and  surely  they 
came  up  to  the  full  standard  of  popular  addresses. 
The  speakers  were  well  known  for  their  great  oratori 
cal  powers,  and  men  were  unable  to  say  which  made 
the  greatest  speech.  With  their  minds  full  of  the  sub- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

ject  of  the  country's  distress,  and  their  hearts  of  those 
high  and  swelling  emotions,  without  which  there  can 
be  no  true  eloquence,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  persons  from  a  distance,  familiar  with  the  popu 
lar  orators  of  the  country,  pronounced  the  addresses 
the  finest  they  had  ever  listened  to.  Certainly  they 
were  very  extraordinary.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to 
hear  each  of  them,  and  their  effect  upon  the  mind  and 
feelings  was  such  that  none  were  weary  at  the  close, 
although  for  hours  they  had  been  standing  in  the  sun 
of  a  day  in  May,  almost  as  warm  as  midsummer. 

REMOVAL  FROM  DOVER. 

In  the  year  1842,  in  the  spring,  Mr.  Clayton  re 
moved  from  Dover  to  New  Castle,  and  took  the  fine 
old  mansion  known  as  the  Read  house,  on  Water 
street.  He  resided  there,  practicing  law  to  some  ex 
tent,  and  taking  a  deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  until 
the  season  of  1845,  when  he  removed  to  his  new  home 
on  the  State  road  below  Hare's  Corner,  where  he 
ever  afterwards  continued  to  reside.  He  had  purchased 
the  farm  a  year  before,  and  built  upon  it  a  new 
and  commodious  house,  with  outbuildings  of  ample 
size.  The  Mexican  war  soon  after  occurring,  and  the 
brilliant  success  of  Taylor  having  filled  him  with  admira 
tion,  he.  called  his  home  Buena  Vista,  in  honor  of  one  of 
his  hero's  great  victories  beyond  the  Rio  Grande.  The 
land  of  Buena  Vista  was  extremely  reduced  ;  but  hav 
ing  bought,  built  upon,  and  removed  to  it,  with  a 


J.Q  MEMOIR    OF 

determination  to  become  an  agriculturist,  he  gave  his 
thoughts  and  energies  to  that  employment.  When  he 
took  it  in  hand  it  was  literally  worn  out  from  exhaus 
tive  tillage  and  neglect  of  the  means  of  resuscitation, 
but  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  renew  its  wasted  vigor, 
and  soon  created  for  himself  the  distinction  of  having 
accomplished  more  in  the  way  of  restoring  the  vi 
tality  of  exhausted  land,  than  any  one  before  him. 
In  fact  the  place  soon  came  to  be  one  of  the  very 
finest  in  the  State,  producing  as  high  a  yield  of  the 
cereal  crops  as  any  in  that  rich  county.  This  was  all 
owing  to  an  unstinted  use  of  money,  judiciously  em 
ployed.  In  order  to  kn6w  what  to  do,  he  commenced 
to  read,  and  in  fact  devoured  every  work  upon  agri 
culture,  scientific  or  other,  that  he  could  lay  his  hands 
upon  ;  and,  with  his  old  habit  when  a  lawyer  in  active 
practice,  would  talk  of  nothing  else  but  his  new  pur 
suit.  It  was  in  vain  to  endeavor  to  draw  his  mind 
away  from  his  subject ;  he  would  still  return  to  it, 
with  some  such  speech  as  this :  "  Oh,  let  us  not  talk 
of  politics"  (if  that  happened  to  be  the  theme),  "my 
talk  is  of  bullocks."  After  he  had  thoroughly  stored  his 
mind  with  book  lore  on  agriculture  generally,  and  the 
nature,  qualities,  and  susceptibilities  of  soils,  and  had  sub 
jected  his  own  to  chemical  analysis,  so  as  to  understand 
(as  a  wise  man  should)  exactly  what  was  best  adapted  to 
its  nature,  he  laid  all  the  best  farmers  of  the  county  un 
der  contribution  to  find  out  what  they  had  learned  by 
reading,  as  well  as  himself,  or  by  that  experience  of  which 
as  yet  he  had  no  store.  Before  he  had  been  in  the 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


141 


country  a  year,  it  really  seemed  that  he  had  found  out 
everything  about  land,  and  the  way  to  till  it,  the  crops 
to  be  planted  or  sown  upon  it,  and  also  the  sort  of 
stock  that  should  be  kept,  and  how  much  of  it,  so  as 
not  to  make  too  great  demand  upon  quantity  of  pasture 
provided  for  it,  and  provender  gathered  from  the  tillages. 
I  mention  these  matters  as  illustrative  of  the  spirit  of 
the  man  —  which  was,  to  do  everything  he  undertook 
with  the  thoroughness  and  intelligence  success  demands. 

THE  DELAWARE  RAILROAD. 

Before  I  proceed  to  the  narrative  of  this  second 
period  of  Mr.  Clayton's  public  political  life,  I  will  advert 
to  his  connection  with  a  very  important  work  in  our 
State.  He  had  always  been  a  friend,  and  what  was  bet 
ter,  strong  advocate,  of  all  public  improvements,  national 
or  State  —  never  having  felt  any  constitutional  scruples 
of  voting  the  public  money  for  the  one,  or  any  reluc 
tance  to  give  his  strong  moral  aid  to  the  other.  The 
loan  of  money  to  the  old  Wilmington  and  Susquehanna 
Railroad  Company,  since  extended  to  the  Philadelphia, 
Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company,  was  made 
by  and  through  his  influence,  which  was  all-powerful  in 
this  State,  with  the  Legislature.  The  great  results  pro 
duced  wherever  railroads  existed,  and  conspicuously  in 
New  Castle  county,  naturally  turned  his  thoughts 
to  what  might  be  done  for  Kent  and  Sussex  also ; 
and  accordingly,  at  the  extra  session  of  the  Legislature 

of    1836,  he    caused    to   be    passed    the    act  to    incorpo- 

18 


J42  MEMOIR    OF 

rate  the  Delaware  Railroad  Company,  for  the  purpose 
of  constructing  a  railroad  from  a  point  on  the  Philadel 
phia,  Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  Railroad,  or  the  New 
Castle  and  Frenchtown  Railroad,  to  the  southern  line  of 
the  State,  in  the  direction  of  Cape  Charles,  with  a  branch 
to  Lewes.  He  and  General  Mansfield,  of  New  Castle 
county,  and  Col.  William  D.  Waples,  of  Sussex,  were 
appointed  commissioners  to  cause  a  survey  of  its  route 
to  be  made,  and  books  of  subscription  to  its  stock  to 
be  opened ;  but  the  financial  calamities  that  soon  after 
befell  the  country  rendered  unavailing  all  efforts  to  pro 
cure  the  necessary  funds  to  build  a  road.  Long  after 
wards  the  charter  was  revived  and  made  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  a  projected  scheme  of  travel  from  Dona 
Landing,  in  Kent,  to  Seaford ;  but  nothing  was  done 
beyond  grading  that  route,  until  the  session  of  the 
Legislature  of  1853,  when  an  arrangement  was  made 
with  the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  Com 
pany,  by  which  the  route  from  Dover  to  Dona  was 
caused  to  abandoned,  and  the  line  originally  contem 
plated  by  Clayton,  through  New  Castle  county,  was 
adopted  in  its  stead.  This  is  the  history  of  the  Dela 
ware  Railroad ;  and  is  given  to  show  how  great  an 
interest  Mr.  Clayton  took  in  internal  improvements  in 
his  own  State,  as  well  as  in  the  country  at  large,  and 
how  prompt  he  was  to  seize  any  opportunity  to  do  the 
people  of  Delaware  a  service.  He  clearly  foresaw  the 
immense  benefits  that  would  accrue  to  us  by  a  rapid 
mode  of  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight  through 
the  length  of  the  State,  and  how  much  such  an  enter- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l^ 

prise  would  develop  those  parts  of  it  that  lay  remote 
from  the  navigation  of  either  of  the  bays,  Delaware  or 
Chesapeake.  At  the  same  time  he  had  greatly  in  view 
the  final  extension  of  the  road  to  the  end  of  the  penin 
sula,  so  as  to  draw  the  passengers  and  products  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  South  through  the  counties  of  Vir 
ginia,  Maryland,  and  Delaware,  forming  it.  His  original 
plan  has  never  yet  been  carried  out,  but  by  some  means 
or  other,  it  probably  will  be,  in  the  near  future. 


RE-ELECTION  TO  THE  U.  S.  SENATE. 

At  the  January  session  of  the  Legislature  of  1845, 
Mr.  Clayton  was  again  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  by  the  vote  of  all  the  Whig  members.  He 
took  his  seat  on  the  following  fourth  day  of  March,  at 
the  time  of  the  inauguration  of  President  Polk. 


FRENCH  SPOLIATION  BILL. 

The  regular  session  of  the  Senate,  after  Mr.  Clay 
ton's  second  election,  did  not  begin  until  the  first  Mon 
day  of  December,  next  following  his  election.  It  lasted 
until  late  in  the  ensuing  summer,  and  was  a  very  ex 
citing  one,  on  account  of  the  prevalence  of  the  war 
with  Mexico.  There  was  opportunity  enough,  however, 
for  Mr.  Clayton  to  master  a  subject  which  had  long 
been  before  Congress,  and  had  been  reported  upon  and 
passed  by  one  House  or  the  other  several  times,  but 


MEMOIR    OF 

had  not  yet  received  the  approval  of  the  votes  of  both. 
I  allude  to  what  is  known  as  the  French  Spoliation 
Bill.  This  measure  was  passed  by  Congress,  to  dis 
charge  the  nation  from  the  implied  obligation  that 
rested  in  honor  upon  it,  to  pay  to  those  who  had 
been  despoiled  in  their  commerce  by  F/rance,  at  the  close 
of  the  last  century,  and  whilst  the  great  political  con 
vulsions  that  shook  the  thrones  of  Europe  were  taking 
place,  the  amount  of  such  spoliation.  By  an  account 
of  the  claims  made  up,  they  reached  a  very  high  sum, 
all  of  which  the  United  States  released  by  the  treaty 
with  France,  made  on  the  3ist  of  July,  1801,  and  re 
ceived  full  consideration  therefor  by  its  negotiation  ;  such 
consideration  being  the  abandonment  by  France  of  our 
previous  guarantees  of  her  West  India  possessions.  Of 
course  the  nation  •  thus  made  itself  liable  to  pay  what 
it  had  required  from  France  in  behalf  of  the  claimants. 
Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that.  However,  under  one 
plea  or  another  —  the  staleness  of  the  claims  being,  at 
a  late  day,  the  principal  one  (as  if  a  Government  should 
ever  resort  to  such  a  defence)  —  no  bill  had  ever  been 
passed  by  Congress,  recognizing  the  public  liability  for 
their  discharge.  Reports  in  favor  of  payment  had 
been  made,  to  the  extent  of  at  least  twenty,  one  of 
the  most  prominent  of  which  was  by  the  old  Revo 
lutionary  hero,  General  Marion.  Only  three  have  ever 
been  made  against  them,  and  they  were  before  the 
publication  of  the  correspondence  between  the  ministers 
of  the  two  Governments,  which  led  to  the  convention 
of  1800,  that  produced  the  treaty  of  1801.  Since 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  l^ 

then,  no  committee  of  either  branch  of  Congress  has 
ever  concurred  in  any  report  not  strongly  favorable  to 
the  claims,  and  they  had  also  been  approved  by  some 
of  the  first  men  in  the  nation;  among  others,  the 
great  lawyer,  John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States. 

At  the  instance  of  friends  interested  in  these  claims, 
most  of  them  representing  the  dead  (for  more  than  a 
generation  had  passed  since  they  had  been  assumed), 
and  particularly  impelled  by  the  appeals  made  to  him 
by  some  of  our  own  citizens,  male  and  female,  who 
were  concerned  in  their  payment,  Mr.  Clayton  made 
up  his  mind  to  investigate  the  whole  subject ;  and,  if 
justified  in  so  doing,  to  introduce  the  necessary  bill 
to  give  relief  to  the  claimants.  Accordingly,  he  went 
to  work  (more  suo),  and  the  result  was  a  bill  for  pay 
ment  of  the  debt  the  country  owed  to  the  victims  of 
the  spoliations  committed  by  France,  and  that  it  passed 
both  Houses  of  Congress.  All  the  old  objections  and 
arguments  proved  unavailing  to  defeat  the  measure : 
it  passed  —  the  country  felt  itself  relieved  of  the  im 
putation  of  injustice,  the  needy  suppliants  for  the  na 
tion's  justice  were  allowed  their  prayers  for  a  bill, 
and  all  supposed  that  there  was  an  end  of  the  long 
struggle  for  justice.  This  was  not  so,  however.  The 
President,  Polk,  vetoed  the  bill,  and  the  claims  re 
main  unpaid  to  this  day.  His  reasons  therefor,  if  they 
can  be  called  such,  appear,'  in  his  very  brief  message 
returning  the  bill  unapproved,  and  the  insufficiency 
of  them,  to  Mr.  Clayton's  mind,  are  fully  exposed  in 


146 


MEMOIR    OF 


his   speech    reviewing    the   veto,    delivered    on  the    nth 
of  August,  1846. 

THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 

Earlier  in  this  same  session  of  1846,  the  Oregon 
question,  as  it  was  termed,  was  before  the  country.  At 
this  time  all  the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  north  of  California,  was  known  as  the  Oregon  terri 
tory.  Ever  since  our  acquisition  of  it  through  the  dis 
covery  of  Gray  of  Boston,  and  the  explorations  of  Lewis 
and  Clarke,  the  British  had  claimed  it,  or  the  most  of  it, 
by  reason  of  alleged  prior  occupancy,  and  its  partial  set 
tlement  by  the  subjects  of  the  crown.  On  the  2Oth  of 
October,  1818,  a  convention  had  been  concluded  between 
the  United  States  and  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  for  the  period  of  ten  years,  and  afterwards 
indefinitely  extended  and  continued  in  force  by  another 
convention,  concluded  on  the  6th  of  August,  1827,  by 
which  it  was  agreed  that  the  territory  should,  together 
with  its  harbors,  bays,  creeks,  and  the  navigation  of  all 
rivers  within  the  same,  be  free  and  open  to  the  vessels, 
citizens,  and  subjects  of  both  parties,  but  without  preju 
dice  to  the  claim  which  either  might  have  to  any  part 
of  the  country  —  and  with  a  proviso  that  either  might 
annul  the  convention  by  giving  twelve  months  notice  to 
the  other. 

A  resolution  had  been  introduced  into  the  Senate  by 
Mr.  Allen,  of  Ohio,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  of 
Foreign  Relations  for  the  abrogation  of  the  convention 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


147 


upon  the  prescribed  notice.  The  committee  reported  to 
the  Senate,  in  its  stead,  one  of  similar  import,  but  pro 
viding  that  the  twelve  months  should  not  begin  to  run 
until  the  receipt  of  the  notice  by  Great  Britain.  Other 
resolutions  had  been  presented  to  the  Senate  by  Messrs. 
Hannegan,  of  Indiana,  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Crittenden  of  Kentucky.  This  was  the  state  of  things 
when  Mr.  Clayton  rose  in  his  place  in  the  Senate  on 
the  1 2th  of  February,  1846,  to  speak  upon  the  subject. 
The  country  at  the  time  was  in  a  high  state  of  politi 
cal  excitement.  Those  who  brought  the  subject  forward 
had  succeeded  in  impressing  the  masses  of  the  people 
with  the  idea  that  our  right  to  the  whole  of  Oregon 
was  incapable  of  successful  question,  and  that  the  British 
were  trying  to  take  it  from  us.  Of  course  the  joint 
occupancy,  provided  for  by  the  convention,  could  not 
but  produce  as  it  did  collisions  of  various  kinds,  if  not 
actually  physical,  —  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  both  par 
ties  occupying  and  trading,  and  being  without  any  law 
except  the  unwritten  common  law  of  both  their  lands. 
Such  conflicts  were  exaggerated ;  and,  as  no  question 
can  arise,  with  us,  that  is  not  made  to  take,  sooner  or 
later,  a  party  form,  it  was  not  long  before  it  turned  out 
that  one  party  was  on  one  side,  and  the  other  on  the 
other  side.  Leaders  on  both  sides  sought  to  make  the 
most  of  the  crisis;  those  of  the  dominant  party  charging 
their  opponents  with  want  of  patriotism,  in  not  taking 
what  was  called  the  American  side,  the  Whig  leaders 
retorting  by  accusing  theirs  of  seeking  to  bring  about 
a  war  to  restore  the  waning  popularity  of  their  party. 


MEMOIR    OF 

There  was  an  immense  display  of  so-called  patriotism 
at  this  time,  —  the  multitude,  stimulated  by  appeals  to 
their  nationality,  clamoring  for  "  the  whole  of  Oregon  or 
none,"  and  adopting  enthusiastically  the  cry,  "fifty-four 
forty,  or  fight." 

.  It  was  during  this  excitement  that  Mr.  Clayton 
took  part  in  the  fierce  debate  that  was  going  on  in 
Congress  over  this  exciting  topic.  He  first  caused  to 
be  read  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Allen,  next  that  of  the 
Committee  of  Foreign  Relations ;  and  then  Mr.  Crit- 
tenden  made  a  motion  that  the  resolution  submitted 
by  him  should  be  substituted,  by  way  of  amendment, 
for  both  of  them.  His  resolution,  after  reciting  the  con 
vention  for  joint  occupancy,  sets  forth,  in  continuation 
of  the  preamble,  that  it  has  become  desirable  that  the 
respective  claims  of  the  parties  should  be  definitely 
settled  that  said  territory  might  no  longer  than  need 
be,  remain  subject  to  the  evil  consequences  of  the  di 
vided  allegiance  of  its  population,  and  of  the  confu 
sion  and  conflict  of  national  jurisdiction,  dangerous  to 
the  cherished  peace  and  good  understanding  of  the  two 
countries,  and  that  steps  should  be  taken  for  the  abro 
gation  of  the  convention  in  the  mode  prescribed  in  the 
second  article  thereof,  that  the  attention  of  both  countries 
might  be  most  earnestly  and  immediately  directed  to 
renewed  efforts  for  the  settlement  of  all  their  differ 
ences  and  disputes  in  respect  to  said  territory.  The 
resolution  itself  authorized  the  President,  in  his  discre 
tion,  to  give  to  the  British  Government  the  notice,  re 
quired  by  its  aforesaid  article,  for  the  abrogation 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^g 

of  the  convention  of  the  2<d  of  August,  1827  ; 
but  contained  a  proviso  that,  "in  order  to  afford  am 
pler  time  and  opportunity  for  the  amicable  settlement 
and  adjustment  of  all  their  differences  and  disputes  in 
respect  to  said  territory,  said  notice  ought  not  to  be 
given  till  after  the  close  of  the  present  session  of 
Congress. "  In  support  of  the  Crittenden  resolution 
Mr.  Clayton  made  his  Oregon  speech,  one  full  of  pa 
triotism  and  true  statemanship,  —  in  which  he  con 
clusively  showed  our  utter  unfitness  to  embark  in  any 
war  to  maintain  our  pretensions  in  that  distant  region. 
The  resolution  of  Mr.  Allen,  and  that  of  the  committee, 
did  neither  of  them  hold  out  any  idea  other  than  that 
negotiations  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute  were  not 
contemplated,  —  the  former  directing  the  President  to 
give  the  notice,  and  the  latter  advising  it,  and  neither 
of  them  having  any  qualification,  or  phrase,  holding 
out  to  the  country  the  prospect  of  anything  but  war; 
it  being  well  known  that  the  British  never  retreat  from 
any  position  upon  a  threat  of  expulsion  by  arms. 
The  resolution  of  Crittenden,  and  the  speech  Mr. 
Clayton  delivered  for  it,  by  its  tone  and  temper,  and 
the  spirit  of  candor  and  non-partisanship  which  char 
acterized  it,  did  more  to  cool  down  the  fever  of  the 
impulsive,  and  rob  the  agitators,  in  and  out  of  Con 
gress,  of  their  control  over  the  public  thought,  than 
anything  that,  up  to  that  time,  had  .been  done  or  at 
tempted.  This  speech,  and  the  others  which  followed 
it,  and  the  constancy  of  leading  papers  throughout  the 

country,  elevated  the    public  mind    above  the    strifes  and 

19 


ISO 


MEMOIR   OF 


the  tumults  of  struggles  for  party  ascendency,  and 
caused  it  to  contemplate  the  question  presented,  unin 
fluenced  by  aught  but  sober  reflection.  The  conse 
quence  was  that  the  whole  trouble  was  settled  in  the 
only  rational  mode  that  had  been  suggested.  The 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  most  advantageous  to  us, 
though  entirely  just  to  England.  By  them  we  were 
secured  in  all  that  part  of  the  disputed  region  bounded 
northwardly  by  the  line  of  the  49th  parallel  of  lati 
tude,  until  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the  Straits 
of  Fuca  is  reached,  and  then  down  said  channel  to  the 
Pacific. 

So  great  was  the  confidence  all  over  the  country, 
among  all  classes  and  partisans,  in  the  wisdom  and 
sagacity  of  John  M.  Clayton,  and  such  their  belief  in 
his  sturdy  patriotism,  that  I  think  I  hazard  nothing  in 
saying,  that  there  was  hardly  a  man  in  the  national 
councils  whose  speech  would  have  made  such  an  im 
pression  upon  the  public  as  his  did,  especially  as  it  ran 
counter  to  the  current  that  had  already  set  so  strongly 
in  favor  of  expelling  the  English  upon  the  treaty  notice. 
At  the  conclusion,  he  paid  the  following  just  compli 
ment  to  the  valor  of  our  people  when  called  upon  to 
support  a  just  cause  : 

"  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  not  manifest 
ed  any  want  of  confidence  in  the  Executive ;  they  have 
not  formed  themselves  into  parties  upon  this  question ;  the 
difference  among  them,  so  far  as  any  difference  exists, 
arises  from  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l*l 

foreign  relations  of  the  country.  I  believe  that  my 
countrymen  are  as  ready  to  go  to  war  in  defence  of 
their  just  rights  as  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
All  that  the  Senator  from  Ohio  (Allen)  said,  and  all 
that  he  can  say,  in  regard  to  their  bravery  or  their 
ability  to  protect  themselves,  I  heartily  concur  with.  I 
do  not  underrate  their  prowess  in  battle  —  far,  very  far 
from  it.  But  I  believe  if  they  could  all  be  gathered 
together  in  one  mass  in  front  of  the  President's  mansion, 
knowing  that  he  has  the  power  to  decide  the  question 
whether  we  shall  have  war  or  peace,  they  would  address 
him  in  some  such  language  as  was  used  to  the  con 
queror  of  Agincourt,  when  he  called  his  council  around 
him  and  asked  them  to  give  him  their  honest,  sincere 
opinion  as  to  his  right  to  go  to  war  with  France.  On 
that  solemn  occasion  they  are  represented  by  the  greatest 
of  our  dramatic  poets  as  saying  to  him : 

'  God  forbid 


That  you  should  fashion,   wrest,  or  bow  your  reading, 

Or   nicely   charge  your  understanding  soul 

With   opening  titles   miscreate,   whose  right 

Suits   not  in  native    colors  with  the  truth ; 

For  God    doth   know  how  many,   now  in    health, 

Shall   drop  their  blood  in   approbation 

Of  what  your  wisdom  shall   incite  us  to  : 

Therefore  take  heed  how   you   impawn  our  persons, 

How   you   awake  the  sleeping  sword  of  war ; 

We  charge  you,   in  the  name  of  God,  take  heed!' 

"Sir,  while  I  admit,  nay  insist,  that  my  countrymen 
are  as  brave  as  any  people  on  earth,  and  as  prompt 
to  vindicate  their  rights ;  and  while  I  well  know 
that  if  you  convince  them  that  their  title  to  Oregon 
is  clear  and  indisputable,  they  will  be  as  able  and  as 


,j2  MEMOIR   OF 

ready  to  maintain  it  as  any  nation  in  the  world  can 
be:  I  would  charge  this  Senate  also,  should  they  be 
called  upon  to  decide  upon  the  question  of  war  or 
peace,  to  take  heed. 

"  If  we  are  to  have  a  war  with  England,  an  empire 
more  powerful  than  ever  was  Rome  in  her  palmiest 
days,  let  us  have  a  just  cause;  then  we  shall  all  strike 
together,  and  I  have  no  doubts  or  fears  as  to  the  is 
sue.  But  first  let  the  people,  first  let  ourselves,  be 
convinced  that  we  are  in  the  right.  Do  not  let  us  go 
to  battle  in  a  bad  cause ;  in  one  that  is  righteous, 
I  know  that  we  can  fight  as  well  as  any  people  that 
ever  lived. 

"  If  this  matter  must  come  to  a  war,  the  responsi 
bility  will  rest  on  the  head  of  the  President  and  his 
cabinet;  and  it  will  be,  as  has  truly  been  observed, 
such  a  war  as  the  world  never  yet  saw.  It  will  be 
the  '  carnival  of  death,  the  vintage  of  the  grave.'  It 
will  be  a  war  between  men  who  profess  to  be  Christians  ; 
with  a  people  allied  to  ourselves  in  feeling,  more  than 
all  the  nations  of  the  world ;  a  people  far  advanced 
before  all  mankind  in  intelligence  and  the  arts  and 
improvements  of  civilized  life ;  a  nation  which  approx 
imates  more  than  any  other  to  our  own  principles  of 
free  government ;  a  people  who  '  know  their  rights, 
and  knowing  dare  maintain  them ' ;  a  people  skilful 
in  war,  brave  to  a  proverb,  and  amply  supplied  with 
all  the  means  and  sinews  of  war. 

"  If  we  go  to  war  with  this  people  about  our  title 
to  Oregon,  at  this  time,  the  responsibility  will  not  rest 
on  me.  Not  on  me  —  not  on  me,  or  mine,  O  God! 
let  any  portion  of -the  guilt  or  the  sin  of  such  a  war 
ever  be  found." 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


THE   MEXICAN  WAR. 

The  year  1846  will  be  remembered  as  that  of  the 
commencement  of  the  war  with  Mexico ;  the  battle  of 
Palo  Alto  having  been  fought  in  April  of  that  year.  It 
was  the  firm  belief  of  Mr.  Clayton  and  his  political 
associates,  the  Whigs,  that  this  crisis  was  unnecessarily 
brought  upon  the  country  by  the  Administration,  to  pro 
mote  the  supposed  interest  of  the  South  by  the  acquisi 
tion  of  territory  adapted  to  slave  labor.  Whether  they 
were  right  or  wrong  in  this  opinion,  is  practically 
unimportant  at  this  day.  War  commenced,  as  was 
alleged,  by  the  act  of  Mexico ;  and  at  once  the  spirit  of 
nationality  was  aroused  all  over  the  country,  and  the 
masses  of  the  Whig  party  fell  in  with  the  popular 
movement  in  favor  of  it.  The  Whig  leaders  found 
themselves  in  an  awkward  dilemma;  to  oppose  the  war 
would  be  death  to  their  party ;  for  the  first  shedding  of 
blood  was  by  the  Mexicans ;  and  when  blood  flows,  all 
reason  is  overborne  by  passion.  They  therefore  were 
driven,  by  the  requirements  of  party  preservation,  to 
smother  any  feelings  of  opposition  to  the  conflict.  But 
they  still  desired  to  preserve  their  consistency  in  so  far 
as  to  hold  their  opinions,  and  express  them  if  necessary. 
But  their  opponents  intended  they  should  do  one  of 
two  things;  either  oppose  the  war  out  and  out,  or 
admit  that  it  was  just.  To  oppose  it  would  destroy 
them  with  the  masses,  who,  though  not  desiring  war 
more  than  the  few,  yet  strongly  supported  it  when 


jtj4  MEMOIR    OF 

made,  from  the  feeling  of  patriotism ;  and  to  admit 
its  justice  would  degrade  them  in  the  eyes  of  the 
most  intelligent  of  their  followers.  It  was  the  real  pur 
pose,  however,  of  their  opponents  to  compel  them  to 
show  hostility  to  it,  and  they  hit  upon  the  ingenious 
device  of  attaching  to  their  bill  presented  to  Congress, 
for  the  means  to  prosecute  the  war,  a  preamble,  or  re 
cital,  declaring  that  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico ; 
and  they  refused  to  allow  a  vote  to  be  taken  upon 
it  separately,  but  required  that  it  should  be  voted  for 
along  with  the  first  section  which  contained  the  en 
acting  clause.  In  vain  did  the  Whigs  inveigh  against 
the  injustice  of  this  course,  alleging,  and  truly,  that  no 
evidence  had  been  furnished  the  Senate,  which  any  one 
had  had  time  to  examine,  that  war  existed  at  all,  and 
that  some  delay,  if  but  for  a  few  hours,  should  be 
granted  for  consideration  of  the  proof  alleged  to  be 
contained  in  the  documents  accompanying  the  message 
of  the  President  to  the  Houses.  The  bill  passed,  and 
received  the  votes  of  all  the  Whigs  but  two  who  voted ; 
but  they  took  care  to  place  themselves  —  as  the  de 
bates  show  —  on  the  ground  that  as  the  country  was 
in  the  war,  she  should  be  supported  by  all. 

This  was  the  feeling  that  actuated  Clayton,  who  de 
clared  repeatedly  in  debate  that  he  was  not  only 
willing  to  vote  the  sum  of  ten  millions  asked  for  by 
the  bill  to  support  the  war,  but  any  sum  that  might 
be  needed  for  that  purpose,  whether  in  the  Treasury  or 
not;  but  he  claimed,  and  constantly  exercised,  the 
right  to  speak  of  the  war  per  se,  in  such  terms  as  he 


JOHN   M.    CLAYTON.  ^ 

chose ;  and  they  were  never  of  approval,  nor  stinted 
in  condemnation. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  feeling  of  nation 
ality,  which  may  be  said  always  to  have  been  very 
conspicuous  in  Mr.  Clayton,  was  too  strong  to  be 
suppressed  by  any  considerations  of  pure  justice.  Like 
all  other  men  of  high  tone  and  spirit,  he  was  a  dev 
otee  of  the  sentiment,  "Our  country  first  and  always." 
It  was  with  him  no  mere  catch  -  phrase  to  be  used 
upon  occasion,  but  an  inspiration  of  patriotism  that  was 
interwoven  with  all  his  feelings  in  relation  to  public 
concerns.  This  may  be  called,  by  philosophizing  mor 
alists,  a  weakness ;  it  may  have  been  so,  but  such  is 
not  not  the0  view  most  people  take  of  it;  for,  after 
all,  it  is  of  similar  quality  with  devotion  to  family, 
which  we  all  feel  and  act  upon,  and  to  party  also, 
which  with  most  men  is  stronger  than  devotion  to 
country. 

This  war  produced  General  Taylor  —  or  rather  de 
veloped  his  fine  qualities  as  a  man  and  a  soldier,  and 
secured  for  us  a  vast  extent  of  territory  which  for  sev 
eral  years  gave  us  great  trouble  on  account  of  the 
struggles  of  the  North  and  South  to  impress  upon  it 
their  respective  favorite  notions  of  civil  and  social  gov 
ernment.  • 

During  the  progress  of  the  war,  no  man  took  a 
deeper  interest  in  it,  and  rejoiced  more  at  the  success 
of  our  generals,  than  Mr.  Clayton — who  throughout 
his  whole  life  felt  the  strongest  sense  of  admiration 
for  great  military  commanders.  The  early  and  bril- 


jeg  MEMOIR    OF 

liant  success  of  Taylor,  with  his  gallant  and  hitherto 
almost  untried  forces,  excited  a  feeling  of  admiration 
all  over  the  country,  while  the  later  and  more  impos 
ing  victories  of  Scott  and  his  troops,  filled  to  the  brim 
the  measure  of  the  country's  exultation.  Out  of  this 
feeling  grew  a  kind  of  spontaneous  purpose  among  men 
of  all  parties  to  reward  the  former  by  elevating  him 
to  the  Presidency.  Accordingly,  he  was  ardently  sup 
ported  by  Mr.  Clayton,  who  by  common  consent  was 
considered  his  great  champion  in  the  old  States,  — 
was  nominated  by  the  Whig  Convention,  in  1848,  and 
was  elected  triumphantly  at  the  then  approaching 
election. 

At  the  sessions  of  1847  and  1848  Mr.  Clayton  was 
constantly  in  his  seat,  and  participated  in  the  debates 
upon  all  subjects  of  importance  that  came  before  Con 
gress,  displaying  at  all  times  that  familiarity  with  them, 
.and  desire  that  the  proper  conclusions  should  be  ar 
rived  at,  which  ever  characterized  him  as  a  public 
man. 

At  this  session  the  subject  of  the  newly  acquired 
territory,  and  what  should  be  done  with  respect  to  it, 
was  presented  to  Congress  for  its  action.  The  South 
naturally  looked  to  the  acquisition  as  a  means  of  coun 
teracting  the  growth  of  Northern  influence,  by  coloniza 
tion  of  the  Northwest;  for  it  was  supposed  that  the 
territory  would  be  settled,  chiefly,  by  Southern  people, 
carrying  their  institution  of  slavery  with  them :  and  the 
North  in  its  turn  determined  to  defeat  such  expectations 
by  refusing  State  organization  without  prohibition  of 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l^ 

slavery.  Here  was  a  dangerous  condition  of  things ; 
and  all  the  arts  of  partisanship,  and  of  demagoguery, 
were  employed  to  fan  the  excitement  and  turn  it  to  the 
account  of  their  respective  sides.  Though  Mr.  Clayton 
had  the  most  perfect  trust  in  the  union-loving  sentiment 
of  the  people  at  large,  yet  he  well  knew,  from  the  ob 
servation  of  his  whole  life,  that  the  passions  of  men 
ofttimes  obtain  such  control  over  reason  and  patriotism, 
as  to  impair  their  influence.  He  knew  that  for  a  long 
time  there  had  been  growing  up,  generated  by  the 
slavery  subject,  a  geographical  distinction  among  our  peo 
ple —  that  feeling  against  the  encouragement  of  which, 
the  Father  of  his  Country  had  so  earnestly  warned  his 
countrymen  in  his  farewell  address — and*  his  knowledge 
of  human  history  taught  him  that  hostilities  between 
peoples  are  as  often  the  outgrowth  of  mere  lineal  divis 
ions,  as  of  diversity  of  race  or  interest.  The  North  and 
The  South  were,  with  him,  ominous  words,  portending, 
by  their  very  sound,  evil  to  the  country,  at  some  day 
not  distant.  He  had  seen,  with  regret  and  disapproval 
(though  a  citizen  of  a  slave  State),  &  disposition  on  the 
part  of  certain  impetuous,  though  able,  Southern  men,  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  to  press  what  they  asserted  to  be 
the  claims  of  their  section,  to  undue  lengths ;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  he  could  not  shut  his  eyes,  if  he  had 
wished,  to  the  fact  that  in  one  way  or  another,  the 
abolitionists  of  the  North  were  gradually  securing  con 
verts  to  their  dogma  that  slavery  was  a  crime,  and 
augmenting  their  ranks  with  all  that  large  class,  who, 
not  exactly  adopting  that  theory,  yet  believed  that  the 


jeg  MEMOIR    OF 

interests  of  the  whole  required  its  restriction  within  its 
then  legal  limits.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  a  great 
deal  of  this  latter  feeling  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  the 
power  of  one  of  the  great  parties  was  supposed  to  rest 
upon  the  support  of  the  slavery  question — which,  being 
one  of  pure  interest,  could  at  any  time,  when  the 
emergency  should  arise,  compel  all  of  the  section 
where  it  prevailed,  to  act  in  concert — or,  as  we  say, 
solid. 

As  soon  as  the  election  of  1848  was  over,  the 
eyes  of  the  whole  country  were  turned  upon  Mr. 
Clayton,  as  the  most  suitable  person  for  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State.  The  great  leaders,  Clay  and  Web 
ster,  were  practically  out  of  the  question  ;  both  having 
desired  the  Presidential  nomination,  neither  having 
supported  Taylor  with  much  real  spirit,  and  the  latter 
having  failed  to  show  any  signs  of  acquiescence  even 
in  the  party's  choice,  until  very  late  in  the  campaign, 
and  after  it  was  wholly  unneeded.  But  from  the  first  — 
nay,  before  any  nomination  was  actually  made  —  Clayton 
preferred  Taylor  to*  either  of  the  others ;  partly  on 
mere  party  grounds,  the  popular  heart  being  with  the 
hero  of  Buena  Vista,  and  his  election  hardly  a  mat 
ter  of  any  doubt ;  and  partly,  also,  because  the  traits 
of  character  displayed  by  Taylor  during  the  war,  his 
placidity  of  temper,  constancy  of  mind,  unselfishness, 
freedom  from  passion  and  fanaticism,  and  high  sense  of 
duty,  all  seemed  to  fit  him  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  nation.  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  at  this  lapse 
of  time,  that  these  high  qualities  were  shown  during 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

the  whole  period  of  his  brief  term.  Mr.  Clayton  was 
unknown  personally  to  General  Taylor, —  they  never 
having  met, —  but  the  latter  was  a  close  observer  of 
public  affairs,  and  had  long  before  been  accustomed 
to  consider  him  one  of  the  chief  men  of  the  nation, 
and  in  whom  the  good  of  the  country  was  a  fixed 
and  settled  principle.  Besides,  he  was  aware  that 
Clayton  had  openly  favored  his  nomination  over  that 
of  one  whom  he  had  sustained  from  the  time  he  en 
tered  public  life  (the  great  leader,  Henry  Clay),  and 
that  he  had  devoted  the  season  of  the  campaign  to 
promoting  his  election.  All  this  inclined  him  to  seek 
out  Clayton  as  his  chief  adviser ;  and  he  was  encour 
aged  to  do  so  by  his  lifelong  friend  and  chief  advo 
cate  beyond  the  mountains,  John  J.  Crittenden.  In 
due  time,  the  tender  of  the  place  of  Secretary  of 
State  was  made  by  General  Taylor,  and  accepted. 
They  first  met  at  Cincinnati,  when  the  new  President 
was  on  his  way  to  Washington  to  be  inaugurated. 
Of  course  it  then  became  certain  that  the  adviser  of 
the  old  soldier  President  was  to  be  Mr.  Clayton,  than 
whom  no  one  could  have  been  more  acceptable  to 
the  people.  He  was  universally  regarded  as  a  man 
of  pure  purposes,  and  superior  ability  for  the  post, 
from  his  high  patriotism  and  habit  of  investigating  to 
the  very  bottom  every  subject  which  he.  was  called 
upon  to  consider.  Besides,  he  was  the  follower  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  of  no  man — though  having  the  highest 
opinion  of  the  great  intellectual  qualities  and  party 
leadership  of  one  of  the  disappointed  candidates  —  and 


MEMOIR    OF 

had  no  retinue  of  relations,  or  local  politicians,  to 
take  care  of.  His  local  friends  were  not  office  seekers, 
and  his  known  hostility  to  nepotism  forbade  the  idea 
that  he  would,  in  the  distribution  of  favors,  be  guided 
by  any  family  feeling.  It  is  a  fact  that  no  kinsman 
or  connection  of  his  was  appointed  to  anything  during 
Taylor's  administration.  I  once  ventured  to  say  to 
him  that  I  should  like  to  be  a  bearer  of  despatches 
abroad,  with  compensation,  and  was  promptly  informed, 
in  answer  to  my  application,  that  he  would  not  use 
his  place  to  promote  the  interest  or  wishes  of  any 
member  of  his  family.  The  other  cabinet  ministers 
were  not  selected  until  very  near  the  inauguration ; 
though  two  of  them,  Crawford  and  Preston,  were  per 
sistently  urged  by  two  conspicuous  Georgians,  who 
claimed  that  their  services  to  the  cause  entitled  them 
to  ask  so  much.  Perhaps  to  these  may  be  added 
Ewing  of  Ohio ;  though  the  Department  assigned  him  / 
was  not  created  till  the  last  day  of  the  session  of 
*48-'49.  His  conspicuous  abilities  and  warm  support  of 
Taylor  required,  however,  that  he  should  be  chosen 
for  some  prominent  place.  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  Mr.  Johnson  as  Attorney  General,  and  Mr.  Mer 
edith  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  were  Mr.  Clayton's 
own  choice.  I  know  positively  that  the  name  of  the 
latter  was  never  mentioned  for  any  place  until  Sun 
day,  the  4th,  and  the  inauguration  took  place  the  next 
day;  it  was  presented  to  the  President  by  Mr.  Clay 
ton.  Certainly  the  cabinet  of  General  Taylor  was  a  very 
able  one,  composed  as  it  was  of  Clayton,  Ewing, 


JOHN   M.    CLA  YTON.  l^l 

Johnson,  Collamer,  Meredith,  Crawford  and  Preston ; 
but  the  leading  spirit  of  the  Administration  was  the 
Secretary  of  State.  Whilst  the  President  gave  to 
everything  his  position  required  of  him  a  sufficient 
degree  of  personal  attention,  and  was  well  able  to 
form  an  intelligent  judgment  upon  public  questions,  as 
well  as  those  that  affected  his  own  Administration  gen 
erally,  yet  it  is  no  reflection  upon  him  nor  upon 
others  to  say  that  he  ever  looked  to  Clayton  as  the 
one  man  on  whose  judgment  he  could  safely  rely.  His 
friends  had  told  him  to  trust  Clayton  unreservedly,  and 
he  never  departed  from  their  counsel.  While  on  the  most 
intimate  terms  with  other  advisers,  and  having  perfect 
faith  in  them ;  yet  the  repose  of  confidence  in  wis 
dom,  prudence,  sagacity,  and  fidelity,  was  in  and  for 
Clayton. 

Perhaps  no  man  who  ever  took  high  office  for  an 
unselfish  purpose,  had  more  to  contend  with  in  his 
career  than  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  As  I  have 
before  stated,  both  the  great  Whig  leaders  were  candi 
dates  for  the  Presidency  when  Taylor  was  nominated, 
and  Clayton  preferred  the  old  soldier  to  either  of  them. 
This  was  his  offence ;  and  it  was  never  entirely  for 
given.  One  of  them,  and  the  greater  of  the  two  in 
tellectually,  had  no  reason  to  expect  any  special  con 
sideration  ;  for  their  relations  had  not  for  years  been 
very  intimate,  and  he  had  no  strength  as  a  party 
man  outside  a  small  body  of  negative  politicians  in 
New  England  and  New  York:  negative,  however,  only 
in  the  sense  of  being  inactive.  The  other  had  claims, 


MEMOIR    OF 

from  his  conspicuous  and  gallant  leadership  through 
many  long  years,  when  his  high  talents  and  brilliant 
advocacy  of  principle  had  produced  for  him  a  feeling 
almost  akin  to  idolatry,  and  from  their  long  standing 
friendship  and  perfect  community  of  view  upon  almost 
every  question  of  national  concern.  But  there  were 
higher  purposes  than  serving  men,  that  influenced  John 
M.  Clayton.  With  a  feeling  that  may  have  been  created 
or  influenced  by  mere  partisanship,  but  nevertheless  a 
perfectly  sincere  one,  he  believed  that  the  affairs  of  the 
country  ought  to  go  into  the  hands  of  the  Whigs  :  and 
the  former  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  intense  hostility  felt 
towards  him  by  his  opponents,  the  Democrats,  so  strong 
as  to  forbid  the  idea  that  he  could  secure  any  votes 
from  their  ranks,  and  his  fatal  weakness  in  writing  the 
Texas  letter — known  to  be  no  true  expression  of  his 
mind,  and  treated  with  derision  by  his  foes  and  received 
with  painful  regret  by  his  friends  —  decided  him  to  look 
to  Taylor  as  the  man  who  could  be  elected,  and  would 
best  meet  the  requirements  of  the  times,  and  destroy 
the  acrimony  of  party  contests.  It  was  not  expected 
that  either  of  those  gentlemen  would  be  a  warm  sup 
porter  of  the  Administration,  though  it  was  that  of  his 
own  party;  but  the  hope  was  cherished  that  they  would 
•at  least  show  a  friendly  spirit  towards  it ;  for  that  does 
not  cost  much.  But  neither  of  them  ever  did  so. 
From  the  first  there  was  coldness  and  want  of  sympa 
thy  ;  afterwards,  in  ways  that  cannot  be  described,  there 
was  something  more.  A  time  had  come  in  their  affairs 
when,  as  it  happens  to  all  men,  people  began  to  find 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^3 

out  they  could  get  along  without  their  aid  ;  and  this  is 
the  crudest  blow  fate  can  inflict  on  a  public  man.  But 
in  the  eyes  of  many  they  were  great  leaders  still,  and 
the  wonder  was  why  they  were  not  puissant  with  the 
Administration  ?  Their  friends  complained  that  they 
were  not  treated  properly.  When  one  of  their  favorites 
wanted  office  and  did  not  get  it,  he  contrived  to  make 
his  leader  believe  it  was  owing  to  his  well-known  fidelity 
to  him.  Thus  the  Administration  obtained  no  support 
at  the  hands  of  the  rivals  of  the  President  for  the  nomi 
nation,  but  almost  the  contrary.  This  of  course  was  re 
flected  by  the  newspapers  also.  Some  of  the  strong 
party  sheets  had  nothing  ever  to  utter,  of  praise,  but 
sometimes  ventured  upon  implied  censure  of  the  Admin 
istration.  One  professedly  neutral  paper,  of  wide  circula 
tion,  made  itself  conspicuous  by  attacks  upon  it.  Noth 
ing  could  be  done  right ;  every  thing  was  done  wrong ; 
and  every  one  disappointed  in  his  ambition  of  serving 
his  country,  abroad  or  at  home,  leveled  his  arrows  at 
the  Administration,  and  always  aimed  at  Clayton,  who 
was  regarded  as  its  head  and  front.  In  fact,  he  was 
beset  on  all  sides,  by  reason  of  this  cold  reserve,  if  not 
more,  of  Webster  and  Clay ;  and  if  he  had  not  been  in 
spired  in  his  course,  all  through  it,  by  what  he  believed 
the  true  interests  of  the  country,  his  party  (where  such 
a  consideration  was  allowable),  and  a  perfect  unselfish 
ness,  he  would  have  broken  down  utterly.  But  when 
he  became  aware  of  the  state  of  feeling  towards  himself 
personally,  for  no  real  wrong  on  his  part,  he  resolved 
that  he  would  fight  his  assailants,  open  and  concealed, 


164 


MEMOIR    OF 


with  the  only  weapons  he  could  employ,  capacity  and 
fidelity  to  his  trust,  and  resolute  adhesion  to  the  right. 
Though  his  own  private  affairs  were  suffering  for  atten 
tion,  and  he  had  repeatedly  expressed  to  the  President 
a  desire  to  retire  to  private  life,  he  yet  remained  at  his 
post,  until  the  decease  of  the  President,  which  occurred 
on  the  pth  of  July,  1850,  gave  him  the  liberty  of  return 
to  Delaware,  which  he  so  much  desired. 

Before  entering  upon  a  view  of  the  Administration 
of  General  Taylor,  or  rather,  a  consideration  of  some 
of  its  features  and  acts,  I  recall  your  attention  for  a 
moment  to  a  debate  which  ran  in  the  Senate  for  a 
long  time  in  the  summer  of  1848,  upon  the  subject 
of  governments  in  our  newly  acquired  Territories  of 
Oregon,  California,  and  New  Mexico,  called  "  the  debate 
on  the  Territorial  or  Compromise  Bill."  This  bill  was 
reported  to  the  Senate  by  a  special  committee  of  eight 
members,  four  from  the  free  and  four  from  the  slave 
States,  and  equally  representing  the  two  great  parties, 
viz. :  Messrs.  Clayton,  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  Un 
derwood  of  Kentucky,  Atchison  of  Missouri,  Phelps  of 
Vermont,  Clarke  of  Rhode  Island,  Dickinson  of  New 
York,  and  Bright  of  Indiana;  and  passed  that  body  on 
the  morning  of  July  2/th,  by  a  vote  of  33  yeas  to  22 
nays.  On  the  next  day,  the  28th,  it  was  taken  up  in 
the  House ;  and  without  debate  or  discussion,  it  was, 
on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  laid  on  the 
table,  by  a  vote  of  112  yeas  to  97  nays.  The  Oregon 
Bill,  having  afterwards  passed  the  House,  was  presented 
to  the  Senate,  when  Mr.  Clayton  arose  and  seized  the 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  j^e 

opportunity  to  defend  the  Senate  bill.  After  stating 
that  no  opportunity  was  offered  to  discuss  the  Terri 
torial  Bill  whilst  it  was  on  its  passage  in  the  Senate, 
he  entered  upon  a  defence  of  it  against  those  who 
had  assailed  it,  and  showed  how  it  had  been  misun 
derstood  by  the  extremists  of  both  parties.  The  par 
ticular  feature  of  this  bill  (for  he  had  drawn  it  as 
chairman  of  the  committee)  was,  that  it  promised  an 
effectual  means,  if  it  had  been  adopted,  of  settling  for 
ever  the  slavery  question,  as  to  all  the  territory  ac 
quired  from  Mexico  by  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Gauda- 
lupe  Hidalgo.  It  provided  that  a  writ  of  error  or 
appeal  should  be  had,  at  the  suit  of  either  party,  in 
case  of  a  claim  of  freedom  by  any  negro  in  either 
California  or  New  Mexico,  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  Every  power  which  Congress  ever 
had  over  the  subject  was  reserved,  because  no  word 
in  the  bill  proposed  to  devolve  that  power  on  the 
court,  or  any  other  tribunal.  The  power  of  Congress 
over  the  subject  was  declared  by  him  to  be  political 
and  legislative,  and  that  of  the  court  simply  judicial. 
"  The  great  question,"  he  said,  "  to  settle  which  the 
select  committee  was  raised  in  the  Senate,  was 
whether  the  citizens  of  the  slaveholding  States  of  this 
Union  have  a  constitutional  right  to  emigrate  to  the 
Territories,  which  have  been  acquired  by  the  common 
efforts  of  all  the  States,  with  their  slaves."  This  ques 
tion  had  been  debated  for  weeks  in  the  Senate  with 
a  degree  of  fierceness  that  threatened  the  most  serious 
consequences,  when,  to  allay  the  excitement,  and  find 

21 


MEMOIR    OF 

some  mode  of  settling  it,  fair  to  all,  the  idea  occurred 
to  him  of  raising  the  special  committee  which  reported 
the  Territorial  or  Compromise  Bill,  with  the  entirely 
new  feature  embodied  in  it,  that  the  question  causing 
so  much  heat  in  debate,  and  so  much  alarm  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  knew  the  lengths  to  which  the 
fell  spirit  of  partisanship  will  drive  men  —  of  the  right 
of  the  slaveholder  to  carry  his  property  to  one  of 
those  Territories  and  hold  it  there,  should  be  submitted 
to  that  arbiter  which  all  men  respected,  not  only  as 
a  pure  body,  but  one  created  to  settle  grave  questions 
affecting  the  welfare  of  the  whole  people  in  the  pro 
tection  of  their  constitutional  rights,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  One  would  suppose  that  men 
of  all  shades  of  political  thought  or  personal  interest, 
would  have  caught  at,  and  supported,  a  scheme  so 
happy  in  its  conception  and  statesmanlike  in  its  fair 
ness.  There  could  be  nothing  juster  to  both  sides  — 
the  one  claiming  that  the  Constitution  threw  the  man 
tle  of  its  protection  over  the  institution  in  the  public 
domain,  not  yet  governed  by  State  laws,  and  the  other 
that  slavery  can  exist  nowhere  but  by  positive  law, 
which  no  one  claimed  had  ever  been  enacted  to  re 
cognize  it.  A  fairer  mode  of  settling  that  question 
than  by  its  submission  to  judicial  decree,  and  that  of 
such  a  court,  cannot  be  conceived :  but  the  interest 
of  party  (I  speak  not  now  of  mere  political  divisions) 
was  stronger  than  reason  or  candor.  The  geographi 
cal  distinctions  against  which  Washington  had  warned 
his  compatriots,  and  which  were  sure  to  be  strength- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  jg- 

ened  and  possibly  fixed  by  the  agitation  of  the  ques 
tion,  were  contemplated  by  the  foes  of  the  Compromise 
Bill  ;  but  the  warnings  of  the  Father  of  his  Country 
were  unavailable  to  stay  the  strife.  Misrepresentation 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  rancor  of  the  discussion  on 
the  other,  prevented  judgment  from  asserting  her  author 
ity.  Passion  ruled  the  hour  when  that  bill  was  defeated, 
and  has  done  so  since,  in  relation  to  other  grave  sub 
jects,  from  time  to  time,  and  will  do  so  hereafter,  until 
men  shall  come,  by  some  terrible  blow  inflicted  upon 
the  vitality  of  their  free  republican  government,  to 
regain  their  reason.  It  is  with  nations  as  with  indi 
viduals  ;  they  become  drunk  with  passion  and  excite 
ment,  requiring  some  sudden  stroke  to  "  stun  them  into 
sobriety." 

In  defending  his  proposition  —  for  submission  of  the 
question  of  the  right  to  carry  slaves  into  the  Territo 
ries  and  hold  them  there  —  to  the  Supreme  Court  ulti 
mately,  he  used  this  fine  language  : 

"  The  Senator  from  Tennessee  (his  friend,  John  Bell), 
as  well  as  others,  inquired  of  me,  how  this  bill 
could  settle  the  controversy  between  the  slaveholding 
and  non-slaveholding  sections  of  the  Union.  I  answer 
—  precisely  in  the  same  quiet  mode  by  which  the 
court  in  the  last  resort  provided  by  the  Constitution, 
•has  decided  a  thousand  other  questions  which  ^have 
arisen  between  the  people  of  different  States  and  sec 
tions  of  the  Union.  It  is  the  greatest  glory,  the 
proudest  boast  of  our  countrymen,  that  they  are  gov 
erned  only  by  law,  and  that  law  made  by  their  own 


!68  MEMOIR    OF 

servants  and  interpreted  by  men  selected  by  them  or 
by  their  agents.  They  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the 
law,  in  deference  to  themselves.  Their  own  self-respect 
teaches  them  to  obey  the  edicts  promulgated  by  their 
authority,  or  that  of  their  fathers.  For  this  reason,  the 
true  American  is  a  more  law-abiding  being  than  the 
citizen  of  any  other  nation  on  earth.  The  inscription 
on  the  monument  of  the  Spartans  who  fell  at  Ther 
mopylae  was,  "  Go,  stranger,  and  tell  the  Lacedemonians 
that  we  lie  here  in  obedience  to  the  laws. "  Obedience 
to  the  laws,  is  the  cognate  spirit,  if  not  the  charac 
teristic,  of  rational  civil  liberty.  Resistance  to  tyran 
ny  is  the  result  of  the  same  love  of  freedom  which 
dictates  submission  to  the  civil  magistrate  of  our  own 
choice ;  and  every  truly  free  people  on  earth,  have 
been  distinguished  for  their  deference  and  respect  for 
the  judgments  of  their  civil  tribunals.  When  we  shall 
so  far  degenerate  from  the  spirit  of  genuine  civil  lib 
erty  as  to  despise  and  trample  under  foot  the  solemn 
decrees  of  the  great  judical  arbiter  appointed  by  the 
republicans  of  the  olden  time,  to  decide  our  contro 
versies,  allay  our  heart-burnings,  and  restore  fraternal 
feelings  among  the  contending  geographical  divisions 
of  our*  common  country,  we  shall  cease  to  respect  the 
memories  of  our  forefathers,  and  to  honor  our  own 
truth." 

This  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  statesman 
like  speeches  that  was  ever  made  by  Mr.  Clayton 
in  the  Senate  —  showing,  as  it  does,  his  great  sagacity 
as  a*  public  man,  and  the  pure  patriotism  that  inspired 
all  his  actions.  In  it  he  felt  called  upon  to  refer  to 
the  course  of  Senators  individually,  and  he  did  it  with 
a  fearless  speech,  addressed  as  well  to  his  personal 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^ 

and  political  friends,  as  to  those  opposed  to  him.  He 
had  a  cause  to  maintain,  which  he  believed  a  good 
one ;  he  had  a  measure  to  vindicate,  which  had  been 
denied  justice;  and  in  all  his  life,  professional  and 
political,  when  these  circumstances  existed,  he  spared 
neither  friend  nor  foe,  who  stood  opposed  to  him.  Not 
that  he  descended  to  what  are  treated  as  mere  per 
sonalities,  but  he  referred  to  arguments  or  assertions 
as  those  of  individuals  mentioned  and  employed  the 
strongest  thoughts  and  most  vigorous  language,  to 
expose  the  fallacy,  insincerity,  or  partisanship  of  their 
positions.  He  plainly,  but  sorrowfully,  viewed  the  ques 
tion  he  attempted  to  settle  by  his  bill,  as  dangerous 
to  the  Union  he  loved  so  much.  No  one  can  form 
an  adequate  idea  of  that  speech  by  extracts  from  it, 
or  statement,  generally,  of  its  language  ;  it  requires  to 
be  read  throughout,  and  will  be  found  to  be  a  com 
plete  view  of  the  state  of  the  slavery  question  at 
that  time,  the  scheme  of  the  bill  to  settle  it,  the  hos 
tility  it  met  with,  particularly  from  the  North,  and  an 
exemplification  of  his  concern  for  the  safety  of  the 
country  if  the  strife  could  not  be  allayed.  At  the 
close  of  it  he  used  this  prophetic  language : 

"  The  refusal  to  submit  to  the  arbitrament  of  the 
very  tribunal  which  the  founders  of  the  republic  es 
tablished —  the  scorn  with  which  the  Constitution  has 
been  treated,  in  the  contemptuous  repudiation  of  a 
sacred  constitutional  right  to  try  the  question  made  by 
one  whole  section  of  the  Union  —  the  contumely  and 


,jO  MEMOIR    OF 

reproach  now  poured  out  without  stint  or  measure  on 
both  sections  —  and  the  shouts  of  victory  by  one 
section  over  another,  as  if  a  triumph  had  been  achieved 
over  a  foreign  foe, —  all  announce  not  only  the  dawning 
but  the  perfect  day  of  an  attempt  to  alienate  one 
portion  of  the  Union  from  the  other.  How  and  when 
is  this  suicidal  madness  to  be  arrested?  It  is  now 
palpable  that  no  bill  of  any  kind,  to  organize  govern 
ments  in  the  Territories  acquired  from  Mexico,  can 
pass  Congress  at  the  present  session,  though  ineffectual 
efforts  will  be  made  to  pass  one ;  and  that  he  who 
shall  attempt  to  stand  between  the  contending  sections 
in  their  hostile  array  hereafter,  will  be  the  first  man 
struck  down  by  both.  Who  will  take  the  hazard  of 
that  position  hereafter?  Gentlemen  both  of  the  North 
and  South  will  now  go  home  and  seek  to  sustain 
their  respective  grounds  by  inflammatory  addresses  to 
their  constituents.  The  people  will  become  excited, 
and  their  representatives  will  return  to  these  halls  at 
the  next  session  still  more  riveted  in  their  opposition 
to  one  another.  .Before  Congress  can  act  on  this 
question,  it  may  .run  beyond  the  reach  of  any  settle 
ment.  Is  there  not  real  ground  for  alarm  ?  Sir,  I 
envy  not  that  man's  feelings,  who  can  look  upon  the 
approaching  struggle  without  apprehension.  The  fiery 
Southron,  finding  the  doors  of  justice  barred  against 
him,  may  seek  to  storm  them,  or  to  enforce  his 
claims  by  violence ;  and  in  that  event,  the  very  first 
men  to  shirk  responsibility  will  be  those  who  have 
provoked  this  tempest,  by  their  violent  denunciations 
of  all  compromise  and  all  justice.  " 

He   closes   with    this    expression   of  devotion   to    the 
Union,    whose     perils     filled    his    mind    with    gloom, — 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  j-j 

enlivened,  however,  by  the  hope  which  never  wholly 
deserts  the  breasts  of  any  who  have  the  same  confi 
dence  which  he  had  in  the  ultimate  good  sense,  and, 
at  all  times,  honest  purpose,  of  the  masses  of  his 
countrymen  : 

"  For  myself,  I  confess  that  there  is  one  object 
which  I  never  could  and  never  shall  be  able  to  con 
template,  in  imagination,  without  terror.  It  is  that  of 
my  native  land,  rent  by  discordant,  sectional  factions, 
divided  and  torn  into  fragments,  and  finally  drenched 
with  fraternal  blood.  To  avert  that  calamity,  I  will,  at 
any  time,  sacrifice  all  other  considerations,  and  seize 
upon  the  first  opportunity  to  allay  feelings  which  can, 
by  any  possibility,  lead  to  such  a  catastrophe.  And, 
gloomy  as  the  prospect  may  be,  I  will  not  cease  to 
hope.  The  bill  which  was  defeated  in  the  House  by 
fifteen  votes,  passed  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  eleven. 
Of  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  votes  in  both  Houses, 
the  majority  against  the  bill  was  'but  four.  No  other 
proposition  could  have,  possibly,  approached  so  near 
to  a  successful  result.  In  the  future,  therefore,  amid  all 
the  darkness  and  difficulties  of  our  position,  we  may 
finally  find  our  safety  in  the  judiciary,  to  which  the 
Constitution  itself  directs  us.  On  the  entablature  over 
the  eastern  portico  of  this  capitol  stand,  in  beautiful 
relief,  the  marble  figures  of  Hope,  Liberty,  and  Justice. 
Hope,  leaning  on  her  anchor,  is  represented  as  inquir 
ing  of  Liberty,  how  the  Constitution,  and  the  Union 
it  secures,  may  best  be  preserved  ?  and  Liberty  points 
to  Justice  for  her  answer.  The  moral  ought  never  to 
be  forgotten.  Let  us  look  to  the  court  which  the 
charter  of  our  liberties  has  established.  That  is  the 
diamond  which  glitters  through  the  gloom  that 


,72  MEMOIR    OF 

surrounds  us,  and  by  that  sacred  light,  we  may  yet 
be  directed  to  the  preservation  of  our  glorious  Union, 
without  which  the  hopes  of  all  men  who  love  liberty 
must  sink  in  darkness  forever." 

If  the  bill  in  question  had  passed  both  Houses,  it 
would,  no  doubt, .  have  received  the  approval  of  the 
President,  and  thus  the  way  would  have  been  opened 
for  settlement  of  our  troubles  at  that  time,  and  after 
wards,  growing  out  of  the  dispute  about  the  right  to 
carry  slave  property  into  the  Territories,  and  hold  it 
there.  The  wonder  is  that  the  North,  which  held  the 
majority  in  the  House  at  that  time,  did  not  seize  the 
opportunity  to  bring  a  question  so  purely  legal  before 
the  judiciary  :  but  the  denunciations  of  the  abolitionists, 
and  that  tenacity  of  purpose  which  the  passengers  of 
the  Mayflower  transmitted  to  their  posterity,  forbade  it  to 
consent  to  any  thing  short  of  surrender  by  the  South. 
The  high  spirit  of  the  latter  would  not  submit  to  that : 
and  therefore  agitation  continued,  alarm  spread,  hopes 
sunk,  and  the  country  gradually  but  steadily  drifted  into 
a  sea  of  blood  and  havoc,  lashed  with  all  the  fury 
which  fratricidal  strife  could  create. 

When  the  Administration  of  General  Taylor  com 
menced  its  action,  no  government  had  been  provided 
by  Congress  for  these  Territories  of  California  and  New 
Mexico :  and  the  people  of  the  former  —  that  is,  the 
emigrants  from  the  old  States,  before  and  after  the 
treaty  of  peace,  —  were  clamorous  for  protection  from 
Washington.  They  complained,  and  justly,  that  they 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^3 

were  exposed  to  constant  danger,  from  the  want  of  Gov 
ernmental  recognition ;  and  they  claimed  that  their  case 
was  one  that  called  for  assistance :  but  their  complaints 
had  not  hitherto  received  much  attention.  It  was  dis 
covered,  perhaps,  that  the  emigrants  would  be  likely  to 
declare  against  slavery,  and  those  who  governed  the 
country  then,  were  not  concerned  that  a  new  State 
should  come  into  the  public  family,  which  would  be 
sure  to  send  anti-slavery  representatives  to  Congress. 
The  Administration  of  Mr.  Polk;  however,  had  not  been 
exactly  indifferent  to  their  appeals  —  an  agent,  Mr.  Vor- 
hies,  having  been  dispatched  to  California  to  give  the 
people  there  such  assurances  as  was  thought  best  to 
keep  them  quiet  and  inspire  hope :  but  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  the  food  was  not  such  as  the  craving 
appetite  of  the  Eastern  emigrants  sought.  They  wanted 
something  more  definite  than  vague  words  —  some  faith 
that  Congress  would  at  once  act  for  their  case,  or  leave 
them  at  liberty  to  do  it  for  themselves.  All  that  was 
yielded  to  them  was  the  declaration,  that  the  govern 
ment  established  by  the  military  occupation  was  dis 
placed,  and  the  former  one  reinstated,  and  that  this 
state  of  things  would  remain  until  a  Territorial  govern 
ment  was  given  them  by  Congress.  This  assurance  was 
sent  from  the  State  Department  to  the  Californians 
through  the  medium  of  the  instructions  to  Vorhies, 
dated  the  ;th  of  October,  1848. 

In  less  than  a  month  after  the  inauguration  of 
President  Taylor,  viz.,  on  the  3d  day  of  April,  1849, 
Clayton  delivered  to  Thomas  Butler  King,  a  distin 


,-74  MEMOIR   OF 

guished  citizen  of  Georgia,  and  former  member  of  Con 
gress,  a  letter  of  instructions  for  his  guidance  in  the 
agency,  then  conferred  upon  him,  of  visiting  California 
and  performing  such  duties  as  the  President  charged 
him  with.  They  differed  from  those  of  Vorhies  (who 
was  recalled),  and  showed  a  warmer  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  that  distant  people  ;  assured  them  of  the 
protection  of  the  Government,  its  solicitude  for  their 
welfare,  and  that  the  naval  and  military  commanders 
there  would  be  instructed  to  co-operate  with  the  friends 
of  order  and  good  government  so  far  as  could  be 
useful  or  proper ;  and  they  said,  "also,  and  the  agent 
was  instructed  to  assure  them,  that  it  was  the  sincere 
desire  of  the  President  to  protect  and  defend  them,  in 
any  formation  of  any  government,  republican  in  its 
character,  thereafter  to  be  submitted  to  Congress,  which 
should  be  the  result  of  their  own  deliberate  choice. 
"  But,"  added  the  Secretary,  "  let  it  be  at  the  same 
time  distinctly  understood  by  them,  that  the  plan  of 
such  a  government  must  originate  with  themselves,  and 
without  the  interference  of  the  Executive." 

On  the  1 7th  of  January,  1850,  the  Senate  passed  a 
resolution  calling  upon  the  President,  in  every  form  of 
expression  deemed  best  calculated  to  draw  forth  every 
thing,  for  information,  as  to  what  had  been  done  l>y 
the  Executive  authority  with  respect  to  California  and 
New  Mexico  —  the  territory  acquired  by  the  Treaty  of 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  The  call  was  promptly  replied  to 
on  the  23d  following,  and  it  is  from  the  communica 
tion  to  the  Senate  by  the  President,  that  the  fore- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  j-e 

going  facts  are  stated.  With  the  frankness  which  char 
acterized  the  old  soldier,  the  President  did  not  content 
himself  with  a  simple  response  to  the  call ;  but  treated 
the  general  subject  at  some  length,  and  related  all  he 
had  done  with  respect  to  the  formation  by  the  Cali- 
fornians  of  a  State  Constitution.  This  course,  he  says, 
was  in  accordance  with  his  wishes,  but  was  not  taken 
because  of  them,  as  he  had  been  anticipated  in  his 
action  by  agents  sent  there  by  his  predecessor.  He 
gives  as  his  reason  for  favoring  a  State  government,  in 
stead  of  a  Territorial  one  —  that  the  latter,  when  moved 
in  Congress,  would  be  sure  to  excite  the  same  bitter 
ness  that  had  before  existed  on  similar  occasions.  This 
was  a  wise  course  to  pursue,  and  shows  how  free  from 
all  partyism,  or  sectionalism,  the  Administration  of  Gen 
eral  Taylor  really  was.  The  people  of  California  have 
reason  to  be  very  grateful  to  the  Administration  of  Gen 
eral  Taylor  for  the  active  part  it  took  in  aiding  them 
by  its  countenance  and  good  wishes,  in  springing  into 
political  life  at  one  bound,  instead  of  halting  upon  the 
Territorial  plane.  It  was  not  however  till  the  year  fol 
lowing  thiSj  and  after  the  good  President  had  been 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  that  the  Constitution,  prepared 
by  the  California  people,  was  approved  by  Congress, 
and  the  State  created  :  nor  was  it  until  after  the  meas 
ure  of  admission  had  been  wrested  from  the  place  given 
it  in  the  celebrated  Omnibus  Bill  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  pre 
sented  to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Pearce  of  Maryland  (an 
able  and  strong  friend  of  Mr.  Clayton,  and  co-operator 


MEMOIR   OF 

with    him    for  the  benefit  of  California),  that  justice  was 
at  last  done  to  her  people. 

THE  HUNGARIAN  REVOLT. 

The  President  and  Secretary  of  State  were  both 
ardent  friends  of  freedom — of  the  right  of  a  people 
to  work  out  their  own  political  destiny,  and  manage 
their  own  individual  concerns  in  their  owri  way.  The 
policy  of  our  Government  and  the  desire  of  our 
people  had  always  been  to  recognize,  and  help  (so 
far  as  countenance  and  encouragement  could  do  it)  to 
come  into  the  family  of  nations,  those  of  other  lands 
who  were  able  to  maintain  autonomy,  and  especially 
such  as  showed  a  desire  to  adopt  institutions  similar  to 
our  own.  The  sympathies  of  Americans  have  always 
been  warm  and  active  for  the  oppressed  everywhere ; 
they  had  ever  remembered,  unlike  the  Israelites  who 
had  to  be  constantly  reminded  of  it,  how,  by  the  favor 
of  the  Most  High,  they  had  been  enabled  to  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  oppression.  I  think  that  no  man  was  a 
more  ardent  lover  of  republican  liberty  than  John  M. 
Clayton.  I  have  known  him  sorely  tried  by  the  defeats 
of  his  party  in  its  struggles,  when  everything  seemed  to 
favor  its  success ;  I  have  seen  him  greatly  crushed  and 
broken  by  that  which  he  deemed  disastrous  to  the 
country's  interest;  but  there  was  never  utter  despair, 
and  never  the  indulgence  of  a  belief  that  any  other 
form  of  government  was  better  than  that  we  had.  His 
confidence,  that  the  good  sense  and  patriotism  of  the 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


177 


people  at  large  would  in  the  end  overcome  the  mis 
chiefs  done  by  attachment  to  mere  party,  was  never,  for 
a  moment,  seriously  shaken. 

Hungary,  under  the  lead  of  extraordinary  men, 
chiefest  of  whom  was  Kossuth,  had  determined  to 
throw  off  the  chains  of  Austria,  and  re-establish  her 
ancient  autonomy  as  a  political  State.  The  people,  of 
America  of  all  classes,  looked  with  eager  interest  at  the 
strife  between  the  spirit  of  despotic  rule  on  the 
one  hand,  and  rational  freedom  on  the  other.  Our 
people,  old  and  young,  sympathized  with  the  Hunga 
rian  patriots,  and  anxiously  looked  for  their  success. 
These  sentiments  were  fully  shared  by  the  Adminis 
tration  of  General  Taylor ;  and  accordingly,  very  soon 
after  the  struggle  began,  and  with  a  view  of  being 
kept  constantly  advised  of  its  progress  and  prospects 
of  success,  Mr.  Clayton  dispatched  a  private  messenger, 
or  envoy,  from  his  Department  to  Europe,  to  observe 
the  struggle  and  study  its  causes,  objects,  purposes, 
and  prospects,  on  the  spot,  with  a  view  to  the  recog 
nition  of  that  people  by  our  own  Government,  at 
the  earliest  moment  when  it  should  become  certain  they 
could  resist,  with  success,  the  imperial  efforts  to  re- 
subjugate  them.  The  President  and  Secretary  particu 
larly  desired  that  if  Hungary  could  sustain  herself,  the 
United  States  should  be  the  first  to  recognize  her. 
This  would  have  been  eminently  appropriate,  from  her 
anomalous  situation  as  a  republic  surrounded  by  des 
potisms, —  a  sister  State  in  the  wide  sense  of  that 
term.  Besides,  she  would  have  a  long  border,  with 


j-78  MEMO 2  R    OF 

ports  and  harbors  from  the  boundary  of  Austrian 
Venetia  on  the  northwestern,  almost  to  the  kingdom  of 
Greece  on  the  southeastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  Sea, 
embracing  within  that  distance,  the  province  of  Dal- 
matia,  as  well  as  the  other  important  territories.  But, 
alas!  what  superiority  of  forces,  and  abundance  of  the 
sinews  of  war,  could  not  do  to  crush  the  hopes  and 
defeat  the  armies  of  gallant  Hungary,  treachery  accom 
plished  ;  and  she  sunk  back  into  the  grasp  of  her 
rival,  to  achieve,  however,  it  is  pleasant  to  believe,  inde 
pendence  qualifiedly,  in  another  way.  In  his  message  of 
the  28th  of  March,  1850,  to  the  Senate,  in  ansVer  to  its 
call  for  copies  of  the  correspondence  with  the  agent, 
Mann,  General  Taylor  expressed  himself  as  follows  : 

"  My  purpose,  as  freely  avowed  in  this  correspond 
ence,  was  to  have  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
Hungary,  had  she  succeeded  in  establishing  a  govern 
ment  de  facto  on  a  basis  sufficiently  permanent  in  its 
character  to  have  justified  me  in  doing  so,  according 
to  the  usages  and  settled  principles  of  the  Govern 
ment;  and  although  she  is  now  fallen,  and  many  of 
her  gallant  patriots  are  now  in  exile  or  in  chains,  I  am 
free  still  to  declare  that  had  she  been  successful  in 
such  a  government  as  we  could  have  recognized,  we 
should  have  been  the  first  to  welcome  her  into  the 
family  of  nations." 


SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

At  this   period  the   whole  civilized  world  was  deeply 
interested     in    the    all -too -probable    fate    of    the    great 


JOHM    M.    CLAYTON. 

explorer,  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  his  brave  comrades 
in  his  two  ships,  the  Erebus  and  Terror,  with  which 
he  had  been  despatched  by  his  Government  to  search 
for,  and  if  possible  make,  the  north-west  passage  around 
the  American  continent  to  the  Asiatic  shores  of  the 
Pacific ;  and,  incidentally,  to  fathom  the  deep  secrets 
that  had  hitherto  been  locked  up  in  the  icy  chambers 
of  the  region  around  the  North  Pole.  The  expedition 
had  sailed  years  before ;  but  from  the  time  it  entered 
into  the  region  of  ice  and  night,  nothing  had  been 
heard  from  it.  What  had  become  of  it,  and  what 
was  the  fate  of  the  commander  and  those  who  sailed 
under  him,  no  one  could  tell.  Although  Sir  John 
Franklin  was  well  known  as  a  sailor  and  captain  of 
great  knowledge  and  of  prudent  wisdom  ;  and  although 
his  Government,  —  never  niggard  in  supplies  of  every 
description  for  her  explorers,  or  thoughtless  of  aught 
that  could  protect  them  from  disaster,  —  had  equipped 
and  furnished  his  .ships  with  ample  stores  for  quite 
three  years  at  least ;  yet  when  more  than  two  years 
had  elapsed  without  any  intelligence  of  the  expedition, 
not  only  his  own  Government  and  people  became  con 
cerned  for  his  safety,  but  other  Governments  and  peoples 
also;  because  discoveries  of  all  kinds,  geographical, 
geological,  or  mechanical,  become,  sooner  or  later,  the 
common  property  of  all,  in  their  influences  upon  the 
culture  or  the  general  interests  of  society.  Wider  than 
these  effects  that  were  in  the  possible  future, 
was  the  universal  throb  of  human  hearts  in  sympathy 
for  the  suffering,  whether  in  ships  imprisoned  by  ice 


i8o 


MEMOIR    Ol> 


in  the  dreary  regions  of  perpetual  cold,  or  at  home, 
pining  with  but  little  hope  of  seeing  their  loved  ones 
again.  While  human  nature  every  where  was  thus 
responding  to  the  appeals  of  distress,  Lady  Franklin, 
Sir  John's  wife,  addressed  the  following  eloquent  letter 
to  President  Taylor,  with  explanatory  notes  appended 
to  it: 

BEDFORD  PLACE,  LONDON,  April  ^th,  184.9. 

SIR  :  —  I  address  myself  to  you  as  the  head  of  a 
great  nation  whose  power  to  help  me  I  cannot  doubt, 
and  in  whose  disposition  to  do  so  I  have  a  confidence 
which,  I  trust,  you  will  not  deem  presumptuous. 

The  cause  of  my  husband,  Sir  John  Franklin,  is, 
probably,  not  unknown  to  you.  It  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  northern  part  of  that  continent  of  which  the 
American  Republic  forms  so  vast  and  conspicuous  a 
portion.  When  I  visited  the  United  States  three  years 
ago,  amongst  the  many  proofs  I  received  of  respect  and 
courtesy,  there  was  none  that  touched  and  even  sur 
prised  me  more  than  the  appreciation,  everywhere  ex 
pressed  to  me,  of  his  former  services  in  geographical 
discovery,  and  the  interest  felt  in  the  enterprise  in  which 
he  was  then  known  to  be  engaged. 

The  expedition  fitted  out.  by  our  Government  for 
the  discovery  of  the  north-west  passage  (that  question 
which,  for  three  hundred  years,  has  engaged  the  interest 
and  baffled  the  energies  of  the  man  of  science  and  the 
navigator)  sailed  under  my  husband's  command  in  May, 
1845.  The  two  ships,  "  Erebus"  and  "Terror"  contained 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  men  (officers  and  crews), 
and  were  victualed  for  three  years.  They  were  not  ex 
pected  home  unless  success  had  early  rewarded  their 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  l$l 

efforts,  or  some  casualty  hastened  their  return,  before 
the  close  of  1847,  nor  were  any  tidings  expected  of 
them  in  the  interval.  But  when  the  autumn  of  1847 
arrived  without  any  intelligence  of  the  ships,  the  atten 
tion  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  was  directed  to  the 
necessity  of  searching  for  and  conveying  relief  to  them, 
in  case  of  their  being  imprisoned  in  ice,  or  wrecked, 
and  in  want  of  provisions  and  means  of  transport.  For 
this  purpose,  an  expedition,  in  three  divisions,  was  fitted 
out  in  the  early  part  of  last  year,  directed  to  three  dif 
ferent  quarters  simultaneously,  viz. :  ist,  to  that  by 
which,  in  case  of  success,  the  ships  would  come  out  of 
the  sea  to  the  westward,  or  Behring's  Strait ;  2d,  to 
that  by  which  they  entered  on  their  course  of  discovery 
on  the  eastern  side,  or  Davis'  Strait ;  and  3d,  to  an  in 
tervening  portion  of  the  Arctic  shore,  approachable  by 
land  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  settlements,  on  which,  it 
was  supposed,  the  crews,  if  obliged  to  abandon  their 
ships,  might  be  found.  This  last  division  of  the  expedi 
tion  was  placed  under  the  command  of  my  husband's 
faithful  friend,  the  companion  of  his  former  travels,  Dr. 
Sir  John  Richardson,  who  landed  at  New  York  in  April 
of  last  year,  and  hastened  to  join  his  men  and  boats, 
which  were  already  in  advance  towards  the  Arctic  shore. 
Of  this  portion  of  the  expedition  I  may,  briefly,  say, 
that  the  absence  of  any  intelligence  from  Sir  John  Rich 
ardson,  at  this  season,  proves  he  has  been  unsuccessful 
in  the  object  of  his  search. 

The  expedition,  intended  for  Behring's  Strait,  has, 
hitherto,  been  a  complete  failure.  It  consisted  of  a 
single  ship,  the  "  Plover,"  which,  owing  to  her  setting 
off  too  late,  and  to  her  bad  sailing  properties,  did  not 
even  approach  her  destination  last  year. 

The     remaining    and    most    important    part    of    the 

23 


!82  MEMOIR    OF 

searching  expedition  consists  of  two  ships,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  James  Ross,  which  sailed,  last  May, 
for  Davis"  Straits,  but  did  not  succeed,  owing  to  the 
state  of  the  ice,  in  getting  into  Lancaster  Sound,  until 
the  season  for  operations  had  nearly  closed.  These 
ships  are  now  wintering  in  the  ice,  and  a  storeship  is 
about  to  be  despatched  from  hence  with  provisions 
and  fuel  to  enable  them  to  stay  out  another  year ; 
but  one  of  these  vessels  is,  in  a  great  degree,  with 
drawn  from  active  search  by  the  necessity  for  watching 
at  the  entrance  of  Lancaster  Sound  for  the  arrival  of 
intelligence  and  instructions  from  England  by  the 
whalers. 

I  have  entered  into  these  details  with  the  view  of 
proving  that,  though  the  British  Government  has  not 
forgotten  the  duty  it  owes  to  the  brave  men  whom  it 
has  sent  upon  a  perilous  service,  and  has  spent  a  very 
large  sum  in  providing  the  means  for  their  rescue,  yet 
that,  owing  to  various  causes,  the  means  actually  in 
operation  for  this  purpose  are  quite  inadequate  to 
meet  the  extreme  exigence  of  the  case;  for  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  missing  ships  were  victualed 
for  three  years  only,  and  that  nearly  four  years  have 
now  elapsed,  so  that  the  survivors  of  so  many  winters 
in  the  ice  must  be  at  the  last  extremity.  And  also, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  channels  by  'which 
the  ships  may  have  attempted  to  force  a  passage  to 
the  westward,  or  which  they  may  have  been  compelled 
by  adverse  circumstances  to  take,  are  very  numerous 
and  complicated,  and  th^t  one  or  two  ships  cannot 
possibly,  in  the  course  of  the  next  short  summer, 
explore  them  all. 

The    Board  of  Admiralty,  under  a  conviction  of  this 
fact,  has    been    induced    to    offer   a    reward    of    ^"20,000 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


183 


to  any  ship  or  ships,  of  any  country,  or  to  any  ex 
ploring  party  whatever,  which  shall  render  efficient 
assistance  to  the  missing  ships,  or  their  crews,  or  to 
any  portion  of  them.  This  announcement,  which,  even 
if  the  sum  had  been  doubled  or  trebled,  would  have 
met  with  public  approbation,  comes,  however,  too  late 
for  our  whalers,  which  had,  unfortunately,  sailed  before 
it  was  issued,  and  which,  even  if  the  news  should 
overtake  them,  at  the  fishing  grounds,  are  totally  un 
fitted  for  any  prolonged  adventure,  having  only  a  few 
months'  provisions  on  board,  and  no  additional  clothing. 
To  the  American  whalers,  both  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific,  I  look  with  more  hope,  as  competitors  for  the 
prize,  being  well  aware  of  their  numbers  and  strength, 
their  thorough  equipment,  and  the  bold  spirit  of  en 
terprise  which  animates  their  crews.  But  I  venture  to 
look  even  beyond  these.  I  am  not  without  hope  that 
you  will  not  deem  it  unworthy  of  a  great  and  kin 
dred  nation  to  take  up  the  cause  of  humanity  which  I 
plead,  in  a  national  spirit,  and  thus  generously  make 
it  your  own. 

I  must  here,  in  gratitude,  adduce  the  example  of 
the  Imperial  Russian  Government,  which,  as  I  am  led 
to  hope  by  His  Excellency  the  Russian  Ambassador, 
at  London,  who  forwarded  a  memorial  on  the  subject, 
will  send  out  exploring  parties  this  summer,  from  the 
Asiatic  side  of  Behring's  Strait  northward,  in  search  of 
the  lost  vessels.  It  would  be  a  noble  spectacle  to  the 
world,  if  three  great  nations,  possessed  of  the  widest 
empires  on  the  face  of  the  .globe,  were  thus  to  unite 
their  efforts  in  the  truly  Christian  work  of  saving  their 
perishing  fellow-men  from  destruction. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  suggest  the  mode  in  which 
such  benevolent  efforts  might  best  be  made.  I  will 


1 84 


MEMOIR    OF 


only  say,  however,  that  if  the  conceptions  of  my  own 
mind,  to  which  I  do  not  venture  to  give  utterance, 
were  realized,  and  that,  in  the  noble  conception  which 
followed,  American  seamen  had  the  good  fortune  to 
wrest  from  us  the  glory,  as  might  be  the  case,  of 
solving  the  problem  of  the  unfound  passage,  or  the 
still  greater  glory  of  saving  our  adventurous  naviga 
tors  from  a  lingering  fate,  which  the  mind  sickens  to 
dwell  on,  though  I  should,  in  either  case,  regret  that 
it  was  not  my  own  brave  countrymen  in  those  seas 
whose  devotion  was  thus  rewarded,  yet  I  should  rejoice 
that  it  was  to  America  we  owed  our  restored  happi 
ness,  and  should  be  forever  bound  to  her  by  ties  of 
affectionate  gratitude. 

I  am  not  without  some  misgivings,  while  I  thus 
address  you.  The  intense  anxiety  of  a  wife  and  a 
daughter  may  have  led  me  to  press  too  earnestly  on 
your  notice  the  trial  under  which  we  are  suffering 
(yet  not  we  only,  but  hundreds  of  others),  and  to 
presume  too  much  upon  the  sympathy  which  we  are 
assured  is  felt  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  land. 
Yet  if  we  deem  this  to  be  the  case,  you  will  still  find,  I 
am  sure,  even  in  the  personal  intensity  of  feeling,  an 
excuse  for  the  fearlessness  with  which  I  have  thrown 
myself  on  your  generosity,  and  will  pardon  the  homage 
which  I  thus  pay  to  your  own  high  character,  and  to 
that  of  the  people  over  whom  you  have  the  high  dis 
tinction  to  preside. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  with  great  respect, 
your  obedient  servant, 

JANE  FRANKLIN. 

To  that  letter  the  following  answer  was  made  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  : 


JOHN  M.  CLAYTON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
WASHINGTON,  April  25, 

MADAM: — Your  letter  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  dated  April  4,  1849,  nas  Deen  received 
by  him,  and  he  has  instructed  me  to  make  to  you 
the  following  reply : 

The  appeal  made  in  the  letter  with  which  you 
have  honored  him,  is  such  as  would  enlist  the  sympa 
thy  of  the  rulers  and  the  people  of  any  portion  of 
the  civilized  world. 

To  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  share  so 
largely  in  the  emotions  which  agitate  the  public  mind 
of  your  own  country,  the  name  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
.has  been  endeared  by  his  heroic  virtues,  and  the  suf 
ferings  and  sacrifices  which  he  has  encountered  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind.  The  appeal  of  his  wife  and 
daughter  in  their  distress  has  been  borne  across  the 
waters,  asking  the  assistance  of  a  kindred  people  to 
save  the  brave  men  who  embarked  in  the  unfortunate 
expedition ;  and  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who 
have  watched  with  the  deepest  interest  that  hazardous 
enterprise,  will  now  respond  to  that  appeal,  by  the 
expression  of  their  united  wishes  that  every  proper 
effort  may  be  made  by  this  Government  for  the  rescue 
of  your  husband  and  his  companions. 

To  accomplish  the  objects  you  have  in  view,  the 
attention  of  American  navigators,  and  especially  of 
our  whalers,  will  be  immediately  invoked.  All  the 
information  in  the  possession  of  this  Government,  to 
enable  them  to  aid  in  discovering  the  missing  ships, 
relieving  their  crews,  and  restoring  them  to  their  fami 
lies,  shall  be  spread  far  and  wide  among  our  people ; 
and  all  that  the  executive  government  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  exercise  of  its  constitutional  powers,  can 


MEMOIR    OF 

effect,    to    meet  this  requisition  on    American    enterprise, 
skill,  and  bravery,  will    be   promptly   undertaken. 

The  hearts  of  the  American  people  will  be  deeply 
touched  by  your  eloquent  address  to  their  Chief 
Magistrate,  and  they  will  join  with  you  in  an  earnest 
prayer  to  Him  whose  Spirit  is  on  the  waters,  that 
your  husband  and  his  companions  may  yet  be  restored 
to  their  country  and  their  friends. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  madam, 
your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN   M.   CLAYTON. 

LADY  JANE  FRANKLIN. 

Lady    Franklin's    reply  is  these   words  : 

BEDFORD    PLACE,    LONDON,   May  24.,    1849. 

SIR:  —  The  letter  with  which  you  have  kindly  hon 
ored  me,  conveying  the  reply  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  the  appeal  I  ventured  to  address  to 
him  in  behalf  of  the  missing  Arctic  expedition  under 
my  husband's  command,  has  filled  my  heart  with  grati 
tude,  and  excites  the  liveliest  feelings  of  admiration 
in  all  who  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  it. 

Relying  upon  the  reports  of  the  American  papers 
just  received,  I  learn  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  responded,  as  you  foresaw  they  would,  to 
the  appeal  made  to  their  humane  and  generous  feelings, 
and  that  in  a  manner  worthy  of  so  great  and  power 
ful  a  nation  —  indeed,  with  a  munificence  which  is 
almost  without  a  parallel. 

I  will  only  add,  that  I  fully  and  firmly  rely  upon 
the  wisdom  and  efficiency  of  the  measures  taken  by 
the  American  Government. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  jg- 

I  beg  you  to  do  me  the  favor  of  conveying  to  the 
President  the  expression  of  rny  deep  respect  and  grati 
tude,  and  I  trust  you  will  accept  yourself  my  heartfelt 
acknowledgments  for  the  exceedingly  kind  and  feeling 
manner  in  which  you  have  conveyed  to  me  his  Excel 
lency's  sentiments. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obliged  friend  and 
obedient  servant, 

JANE  FRANKLIN. 

The  tone  which  pervades  this  correspondence,  on 
the  part  of  our  officials,  agrees  well  with  the  touching 
language  and  sentiment  that  inspired  Lady  Franklin. 
The  page  of  history  furnishes  no  brighter  example  of 
devoted  wifehood  than  her  unceasing  efforts,  never 
allowed  to  flag  by  despondency  or  resignation,  to  ascer 
tain  if  her  husband  were  yet  alive,  or,  if  dead,  what 
record  of  his  sufferings  was  left  for  her  perusal.  The 
action  of  General  Taylor's  Administration  was  but  the 
expression  of  the  feeling  that  warmed  every  American 
bosom;  but  who  could  have  clothed  them  in  such 
befitting  garb  as  the  Secretly  of  State  ? 

THE  CENTRAL  AMERICAN  QUESTION. 

There  was  another  subject  which  caused  the  Ad 
ministration  of  General  Taylor  concern  of  a  different 
character ;  this  was  the  action  of  the  English  in  or 
about  what  is  known  as  Central  America,  —  that  is, 
the  territory  lying  between  Mexico  and  the  then  re 
public  of  New  Grenada,  at  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 


,88  ME.M01R    OJ- 

At  the  "time  of  the  acquisition  of  California  by  the 
treaty  of  Gaudalupe  Hidalgo,  above  mentioned,  the 
railroad  system  of  this  country  was  in  its  infancy. 
Less  than  fifteen  years  before,  locomotive  engines  had 
not  come  into  use,  except  on,  it  may  be,  a  single 
road ;  and  at  the  time  of  this  treaty,  the  3Oth  of  May, 
1848,  there  was,  perhaps,  no  line  running  west  from 
the  Mississippi,  for  a  length  of  more  than  one  hun 
dred  miles.  A  railroad  to  the  Pacific  ocean  was  not 
dreamed  of  by  the  most  visionary  —  nothing  being 
positively  known  of  any  part  of  the  vast  wilderness 
of  plain  and  mountains  west  of  the  looth  meridian  of 
longitude,  except  the  scanty  information  supplied  by 
the  explorations  of  Lewis  and  Clarke.  Fremont  and 
his  followers  had  not  as  yet  penetrated  its  recesses, 
scaled  its  mountains,  traversed  their  valleys.  The 
country  was  virtually  a  blank.  Of  course  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Administration  was  drawn  earnestly  to  the 
fact  that  California,  with  the  inexhaustible  mineral 
wealth  that  had  begun  to  be  developed  there,  was  in 
great  need  of  the  most  jealous  care.  She  might  fall 
a  prey  to  a  greedy  power  before  succor  could  reach 
her ;  she  might  also  set  up  for  herself,  tempted  by 
her  vast  internal  resources,  the  unexampled  flow  of 
population  into  her  bosom,  the  wonderful  adaptation 
of  her  soil  and  climate  for  the  richer  and  rarer  pro 
ductions  of  the  temperate  and  torrid  zones,  the  great 
facilities  her  situation  offered  her  for  traffic  with  the 
East,  and  the  advantage  with  which  she  might,  some  day, 
annex,  on  the  one  hand,  all  the  land  of  her  former 


I 

JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

ruler  worth  having,  and  on  the  other,  that  splendid 
region  north  of  it,  bounded,  like  herself,  by  the  Pacific, 
and  which  had  a  mere  joint  occupancy,  where  each 
of  the  holders  had  little  more  than  an  asserted  right. 
With  what  is  now  Oregon,  added  to  her  northwardly, 
and  southwardly  and  eastwardly  such  of  the  Mexican 
provinces  as  were  desirable,  she  would  be  a  nation, 
not  only  respectable  in  size,  but  in  wealth  and  power 
also.  Now  these  and  other  considerations  presented 
themselves,  from  time  to  time,  and  frequently,  to  Gen 
eral  Taylor  and  his  Administration ;  and  it  was  thought 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  nothing  should  be  left 
undone  to  secure  the  United  States  against  all  risk 
of  the  loss  of  our  Pacific  possessions.  The  only  open 
access  to  them  was  by  way  of  Panama,  up  the  Chagres 
river  in  flat-boats,  and  thence  overland  to  the  bay  to 
the  other  side.  All  intercourse  was  by  that  route, 
which  was  through  a  foreign  country,  whose  territory 
could  not  be  entered  with  armed  troops,  without  in 
fringement  of  international  law.  Of  course  the  way  was 
open  for  all  the  world,  around  Cape  Horn ;  but  such 
a  passage  required  months  for  its  accomplishment, 
the  distance  for  us  being  -more  than  half  way  around 
the  world.  There  was  also  the  additional  fact,  which 
caused  great  anxiety,  —  the  British,  under  one  pretext 
or  another,  were  obtaining  a  foothold  in  Central 
America,  which  was  thought  to  endanger  our  trans- 
montane  possessions,  by  interfering  with  our  interest 
to  have  an  Isthmian  route  of  transportation  and  travel 

24 


I90  MEMOIR    OF 

for   our   citizens,   that   would  enure    to    them    as    a   com 
mercial    people,   and    as    a   nation. 

One  of  the  first  steps  determined  upon  by  the  Tay 
lor  Administration  was  the  dislodgement  of  the  British 
from  Central  America.  But  this  must  be  undertaken 
carefully ;  for  Great  Britain  was  then  the  first  power 
in  the  world,  strong  in  wealth  and  in  preparation  for 
war  by  land  and  sea,  and  strong  also  in  her  deter 
mination  to  yield  nothing  which  it  was  her  interest  to 
retain.  She  had  long  had  a  sort  of  de  facto  occupancy, 
or  title,  to  a  petty  district,  on  the  north  -  eastern  corner 
of  Guatemala,  called  locally  the  Belize,  but,  by  her, 
British  Honduras.  This  was,  originally,  a  simple  right 
to  cut  logwood  there,  granted  to  certain  of  her  sub 
jects  ;  but  was  made  to  serve  another  purpose  (owing 
to  the  weakness  of  the  chief  authority),  that  of  being 
treated  as  part  and  parcel  of  British  territory.  And 
it  had  so  far  been  recognized  as  an  accomplished  fact 
that  during  a  former  Administration,  a  consul  had  been 
appointed  for  that  place,  and  his  exequatur  had  actu 
ally  been  asked  of  and  given  by  the  British  Govern 
ment.  This  British  logwood  right,  and  its  subsequent 
enlargement,  were  long  before  the  famous  recommenda 
tion  to  Congress  of  Mr.  Monroe,  in  1823,  called  the 
Monroe  doctrine.  Among  the  first  acts  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  was  one  to  recall  the  consul  from  Belize. 
This  cleared  the  way  somewhat  for  the  negotiation,  af 
terwards  had,  resulting  in  the  treaty  of  April  19,  1850, 
ratified  the  4th  of  July  of  that  year.  But  there  was 
another  claim  maintained  by  the  British  in  that  region  ; 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  lgl 

which  was  the  so-called  protectorate  of  the  Mosquito 
Kingdom  —  a  habitat  of  miserable  savages,  who,  taking 
advantage  of  the  weak  condition  of  Nicaragua  and 
the  hope  of  help  from  the  British,  had  conceived 
themselves  to  be  the  owners  of  the  long  reach  of 
coast  line,  with  quite  a  broad  stretch  inland,  called 
the  Mosquito  coast,  sometimes  Mosquitia.  This  protec 
torate  was  a  mere  pretext  for  another  foothold  —  the 
poor  puppet  of  a  king  of  those  wretched  Indians 
having  none  of  the  paraphernalia  of  state  even,  to 
say  nothing  of  his  utter  want  of  troops  or  forces  of 
any  kind.  As  this  protectorate  was  considered  dan 
gerous  to  our  interests  —  the  line  of  Mosquito  coast 
covering  most  of  the  front  of  Nicaragua  upon  the 
Caribbean  sea  —  it  was  determined  that  it  should  be 
put  an  end  to.  But  how  to  go  about  this  was  the 
question. 

In  pondering  over  the  subject,  Mr.  Clayton  remem 
bered  that  fifteen  years  before,  during  the  Presidency 
of  General  Jackson,  he  had  introduced  into  the  Sen 
ate,  at  an  executive'  session  held  the  3d  of  March, 
1835,  the  following  resolution:  "Resolved,  That  the 
President  of  the  United  States  be  respectfully  requested 
to  consider  the  expediency  of  opening  negotiations 
with  the  Governments  of  other  nations,  and  particularly 
with  the  Governments  of  Central  America  and  New 
Granada,  for  the  purpose  of  effectually  protecting,  by 
suitable  treaty  stipulations  with  them,  such  individuals 
or  companies  as  may  undertake  to  open  a  communi 
cation  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  by  the 


MEMOIR   OF 

construction  of  a  ship  canal  across  the  isthmus  which 
connects  North  and  South  America,  and  of  securing 
forever,  by  such  stipulations,  the  free  and  equal  right 
to  navigate  such  canal  to  all  such  nations,  on  the 
payment  of  such  reasonable  tolls  as  may  be  established 
to  cpmpensate  the  capitalists  who  may  engage  in  such 
undertaking,  and  complete  the  work." 

Here,  then,  was  a  basis  upon  which  to  rest  his 
work  of  neutralizing  the  Isthmian  territory.  The  ne 
cessity  for  action  seemed  to  the  Administration  of  Tay 
lor  to  be  imminent,  if  we  intended  to  properly  protect 
California,  and  make  her  safe  and  content  in  being 
part  of  the  republic.  It  almost  seemed  like  a  special 
interposition  of  Providence,  that  the  conception  con 
tained  in  the  resolution  should  have  arisen  in  the 
mind  of  the  Secretary,  so  long  before.  With  it 
at  the  bottom  of  his  action,  as  a  motive  to  be 
shown,  but  with  an  earnest  desire,  that  would  not  be 
silenced,  to  deprive  the  British  of  their  Central  Amer 
ican  claim,  as  well  as  to  secure  California,  he  invited  the 
British  minister,  Sir  Henry  Lyttori  Bulwer,  sent  over 
for  that  purpose,  to  confer  with  him  upon  the  subject 
of  the  inter-oceanic  canal.  The  result  of  that  confer-* 
ence  —  maintained  for  a  long  time,  and  often  threatened 
with  rupture  from  .various  causes,  but  never  allowed 
to  break,  by  reason  of  the  determination  of  Clayton 
to  accomplish  his  purpose  in  inviting  it  —  was  the 
convention  known  as  the  Clayton -Bulwer  treaty  —  an 
achievement  which  was  declared  in  my  hearing  in  the 
Senate  to  be  the  first  universal  fact  in  the  his- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  ^ 

tory  of  the  human  race.  Why  should  such  language 
have  been  used  with  respect  to  that  instrument?  Be 
cause,  by  it,  Great  Britain  withdrew  her  claims  to  a 
territory  which  she  had  asserted  and  exercised  the 
right  to  control ;  and  that  it  stands  upon  the  plane 
of  nationality  acting  unselfishly.  While  no  pretence  of 
territorial  right  to  the  Mosquito  coast  had  ever  been 
claimed  by  her,  she  still,  under  an  alleged  arrangement 
with  the  miserable  puppet  treated  by  her  as  the  king 
of  that  region,  asserted  the  right,  and  was  tenacious 
of  it,  to  protect  him  in  his  assumed  claims.  The  duty 
of  protection  of  course  required,  if  occasion  arose,  the 
right  of  occupation  to  perform  it.  It  was  Clayton's 
aim  to  take  that  away,  and  that  of  Sir  Henry  Bulwer 
to  adhere  to  the  compact  with  the  so-called  king. 
But  the  latter  finally  yielded,  and  affixed  his  name  to 
the  treaty,  which  was  afterwards  ratified  by  his  Gov 
ernment,  as  it  was  by  ours,  the  exchange  of  ratifica 
tions  taking  place  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1850. 
Its  language,  with  respect  to  the  subject  in  hand,  is 
very  remarkable  for  its  fullness ;  and  was  thought,  by 
the  author  of  it,  to  put  it  beyond  the  power  of  hu 
man  ingenuity  to  misconstrue  it.  But  human  inge 
nuity  '  is  an  indeterminable  factor  in  all  transactions ; 
misconstruction  of  the  apparently  definite  language 
employed  having  been  made  afterwards,  and,  unfortu 
nately  for  them,  by  distinguished  Senators.  But  let  us 
consider  the  treaty  alone.  We  cannot  do  that  without 
quoting  its  language.  Here  is  the  whole  document, 
precisely  as  it  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  negotiators  : 


JQ^  MEMOIR   OF 

Convention  between  the  United  States  and 
Her  Britannic  Majesty. 

The  United  States  of  America,  and  Her  Britannic 
Majesty,  being  desirous  of  consolidating  the  relations  of 
amity^  which  so  happily  subsist  between  them,  by  setting 
forth  and  fixing  in  a  convention  their  views  and  intentions 
with  reference  to  any  means  of  communication  by  ship 
canal  which  may  be  constructed  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans,  by  way  of  the  river  San  Juan  de 
Nicaragua,  and  either  or  both  of  the  lakes  of  Nicara 
gua,  or  Managua,  to  any  port  or  place  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean ;  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  con 
ferred  full  powers  on  John  M.  Clayton,  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States;  and  Her  Britannic  Majesty 
on  the  Right  Honorable  Sir  Henry  Lytton  Bulwer,  a 
member  of  Her  Majesty's  Most  Honorable  Privy  Coun 
cil,  Knight-Commander  of  the  Most  Honorable  Order  of 
the  Bath,  and  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Pleni 
potentiary  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  to  the  United 
States,  for  the  aforesaid  purpose :  and  the  said  Pleni 
potentiaries  having  exchanged  their  full  powers,  which 
were  found  to  be  in  proper  form,  have  agreed  to  the 
following  articles : 

ARTICLE  I. 

The  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  hereby  declare  that  neither  the  one,  nor  the 
other,  will  ever  obtain,  or  maintain,  for  itself,  any  ex 
clusive  control  over  the  said  ship  canal ;  agreeing  that 
neither  will  ever  erect,  or  maintain,  any  fortifications 
commanding  the  same,  or  in  the  vicinity  thereof,  or 
occupy,  or  fortify,  or  colonize,  or  assume,  or  exercise, 
any  dominion  over  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  the  Mosquito 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  jg. 

Coast,  or  any  part  of  Central  America;  nor  will  either 
make  use  of  any  protection  which  either  affords,  or 
may  afford,  or  any  alliance  which  either  has,  or  may 
have,  to  or  with  any  State,  or  people,  for  the  purpose 
of  erecting  or  maintaining  any  such  fortifications,  or  of 
occupying,  fortifying,  or  colonizing  Nicaragua,  Costa 
Rica,  the  Mosquito  Coast,  or  any  part  of  Central 
America,  or  of  assuming  or  exercising  any  dominion 
over  the  same;  nor  will  the  United  States,  .or  Great 
Britain,  take  advantage  of  any  intimacy,  or  use  any 
alliance,  connection,  or  influence,  that  either  may 
possess,  with  any  State  or  Government,  through  whose 
territory  the  said  canal  may  pass,  for  the  purpose  of 
acquiring,  or  holding,  directly  or  indirectly,  for  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  one,  any  rights  or  advan 
tages  in  regard  to  commerce,  or  navigation,  through  the 
said  canal,  which  shall  not  be  offered,  on  the  same 
terms,  to  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  other. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Vessels  of  the  United  States  or  Great  Britain,  tra 
versing  the  said  canal,  shall  in  case  of  war  between 
the  contracting  parties,  be  exempted  from  blockade, 
detention,  or  capture,  by  either  of  the  belligerents ; 
and  this  provision  shall  extend  to  such  a  distance 
from  the  two  ends  of  the  said  canal,  as  may  hereafter 
be  found  expedient  to  establish. 

ARTICLE  III. 

In  order  to  secure  the  construction  of  the  said  canal, 
the  contracting  parties  engage  that  if  any  such  canal 
shall  be  undertaken  upon  fair  and  equitable  terms,  by 
any  parties  having  the  authority  of  the  local  Govern 
ment  or  Governments  through  whose  territory  the  same 
may  pass,  then  the  persons  employed  in  making  the 


196 


MEMOIR    OF 


said  canal,  and  their  property,  used  or  to  be  used 
for  that  object,  shall  be  protected  from  the  commence 
ment  of  the  said  canal  to  its  completion,  by  the  Gov 
ernments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  from 
unjust  detention,  confiscation,  seizure,  or  any  violence 
whatever. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  contracting  parties  will  use  whatever  influence 
they  respectively  exercise  with  any  State,  States,  or 
Governments,  possessing  or  claiming  to  possess  any 
jurisdiction,  or  right,  over  the  territory  which  the 
said  canal  shall  traverse,  or  which  shall  be  near  the 
waters  applicable  thereto,  in  order  to  induce  such 
States  or  Governments  to  facilitate  the  construction  of 
the  said  canal  by  every  means  in  their  power ;  and 
furthermore,  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  agree 
to  use  their  good  offices,  whenever  or  however  it  may 
be  most  expedient,  in  order  to  procure  the  establish 
ment  of  two  free  ports,  one  at  each  end  of  the  said 
canal. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  contracting  parties  further  engage  that  when 
the  said  canal  shall  have  been  completed,  they  will 
protect  it  from  interruption,  seizure,  or  unjust  confis 
cation,  and  that  they  will  guarantee  the  neutrality 
thereof,  so  that  the  said  canal  may  be  forever  open 
and  free,  and  the  capital  invested  therein,  secure. 
Nevertheless,  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  in  according  their  protection  to  the  con 
struction  of  the  said  canal,  and  guaranteeing  its  neutral 
ity  and  security  when  completed,  always  understand  that 
this  protection  and  guarantee  are  granted  conditionally, 
and  may  be  withdrawn  by  both  Governments,  or  either 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


197 


Government,  if  both  Governments  or  either  Government 
shall  deem  that  the  persons  or  company  undertaking 
or  managing  the  same  adopt  or  establish  such  regu 
lations  concerning  the  traffic  thereupon,  as  are  contrary 
to  the  spirit  and  intention  of  this  convention,  either 
by  making  unfair  discriminations  in  favor  of  the  com 
merce  of  one  of  the  contracting  parties,  over  the 
commerce  of  the  other,  or  of  imposing  oppressive 
exactions,  or  unreasonable  tolls,  upon  passengers,  vessels, 
merchandise,  or  other  articles.  Neither  party,  however, 
shall  withdraw  the  aforesaid  protection  and  guarantee 
without  first  giving  six  months.'  notice  to  the  other. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

The  contracting  parties  in  this  convention  engage 
to  invite  every  State,  with  which  both  or  either  have 
friendly  intercourse,  to  enter  into  stipulations  with  them 
similar  to  those  which  they  have  entered  into  with 
each  other,  to  the  end  that  all  other  States  may  share 
in  the  honor  and  advantage  of  having  contributed  to  a 
work  of  such  general  interest  and  importance  as  the 
canal  herein  contemplated.  And  the  contracting  par 
ties  likewise  agree  that  each  shall  enter  into  treaty 
stipulations  with  such  of  the  Central  American  States 
as  they  may  deem  advisable,  for  the  purpose  of  more 
effectually  carrying  put  the  great  design  of  this  con 
vention,  namely,  that  of  constructing  and  maintaining  the 
said  canal  as  a  ship  communication  between  the  two 
oceans,  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  on  equal  terms  to 
all,  and  of  protecting  the  same ;  and  they  also  agree 
that  the  good  offices  of  either  shall  be  employed,  when 
requested  by  the  other,  in  aiding  and  assisting  such 
treaty  stipul  itiuns ;  and  should  any  differences  arise, 

as  to  r.0rht,  or  property,  over  the  territory  through  which 

25 


198 


MEMOIR    OF 


the  said  canal  shall  pass  —  between  the  States  or  Gov 
ernments  of  Central  America  —  and  such  differences 
should,  in  any  way,  impede  or  obstruct  the  execution 
of  the  said  canal,  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  will  use  their  good  offices  to  settle 
such  differences  in  the  manner  best  suited  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  said  canal,  and  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  friendship  and  alliance  which  exist  between 
the  two  contracting  parties. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

It  being  desirable  that  no  time  should  be  unneces 
sarily  lost  in  commencing  and  constructing  the  said 
canal,  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  determine  to  give  their  support  and 
encouragement  to  such  persons  or  company  as  may 
first  offer  to  commence  the  same,  with  the  necessary 
capital,  the  consent  of  the  local  authorities,  and  on 
such  principles  as  accord  with  the  spirit  and  intention 
of  this  convention ;  and  if  any  persons  or  company 
should  already  have,  with  any  State  through  which 
the  proposed  ship  canal  may  pass,  a  contract  for  the 
construction  of  such  a  canal  as  that  specified  in  this 
convention,  to  the  stipulation  of  which  contract  neither 
of  the  contracting  parties  in  this  convention  have  any 
just  cause  to  object,  and  the  said  person  or  company 
shall,  moreover,  have  made  preparations,  and  expended 
time,  money,  and  trouble,  on  the  faith  of  such  con 
tract,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  such  persons  or  com 
pany  shall  have  a  priority  of  claim  over  every  other 
person,  persons,  or  company,  to  the  protection  of  the 
Governments  of  the  United  States,  and  Great  Britain, 
and  be  allowed  a  year  from  the  date  of  the  exchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  this  convention  for  concluding 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  lgg 

their  arrangements,  and  presenting  evidence  of  suffi 
cient  capital  subscribed  to  accomplish  the  contemplated 
undertaking ;  it  being  understood  that  if,  at  the  expi 
ration  of  the  aforesaid  period,  such '  persons  or  com 
pany  be  not  able  to  commence  and  carry  out  the 
enterprise,  then  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  shall  be  free  to  afford  their  pro 
tection  to  any  other  persons  or  company,  that  shall 
be  prepared  to  commence  and  proceed  with  the  con 
struction  of  the  canal  in  question. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  having  not  only  desired,  in  entering  into  this 
convention,  to  accomplish  a  particular  object,  but  also 
to  establish  a  general  principle,  they  hereby  agree  to 
extend  their  protection,  by  treaty  stipulations,  to  any 
other  practicable  communications,  whether  by  canal  or 
railway,  across  the  isthmus  which  connects  North  and 
South  America,  and  especially  to  the  inter  -  oceanic 
communications,  should  the  same  prove  to  be  prac 
ticable,  whether  by  canal  or  railway,  which  are  now 
proposed  to  be  established  by  the  way  of  Tehuantepec 
or  Panama.  In  granting,  however^  their  joint  protec 
tions  to  any  such  canals  or  railways  as  are  by  this 
article  specified,  it  is  always  understood  by  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  that  the  parties  constructing 
or  owning  the  same  shall  impose  no  other  charge  or 
conditions  of  traffic  thereupon,  than  the  aforesaid  Gov 
ernments  shall  approve  of  as  just  and  equitable ;  and 
that  the  same  canals  or  railways,  being  open  to  the 
citizens  and  subjects  of  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  on  equal  terms,  shall  also  be  open  on  like 
terms  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  every  other  State 


2OO 


MEMOIR    OF 


which    is    willing   to   grant    thereto    such    protection    as 
the    United    States   and  Great    Britain    engage    to   afford. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

The  ratifications  of  this  convention  shall  be  ex 
changed  at  Washington,  within  six  months  from  this 
day,  or  sooner  if  possible. 

In  faith,  thereof,  we  the  respective  plenipotentiaries, 
have  signed  this  convention,  and  have  hereunto  affixed 
our  seals. 

Done    at   Washington,  the   nineteenth    day    of  April, 
Anno   Domini,   one   thousand    eight   hundred     and    fifty. 
(Signed)    JOHN    M.  CLAYTON,  [L.  s.] 

HENRY   LYTTON   BULWERJ   [L.  s.] 

It  was  well  said  by  the  late  William  H.  Seward,  in 
his  remarks  in  the  Senate  before  referred  to,  on  the  oc 
casion  of  the  ceremonies  at  the  announcement  of  Mr. 
Clayton's  decease,  that  the  treaty  was  "  the  first  univer 
sal  fact  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  "  When  be 
fore,  had  any  public  act  been  done,  the  design  of  which 
was  to  benefit  not  only  those  whose  agents  performed 
it,  but  the  whole  family  of  nations  as  well  ?  Our  re 
lations  with  our  younger  sisters  of  Central  America, 
and  the  Isthmus,  were  more  than  friendly ;  there  was 
a  similarity  of  government  between  them  and  us  grow 
ing  out  of  the  revolt  of  each  against  trans- Atlantic 
rule ;  and  the  future  success  of  all  in  the  experiment 
of  self-government  was  linked,  no  one  could  tell  how 
completely,  with  that  of  each.  There  could,  therefore, 
be  no  doubt  that  whatever  we  desired,  how  exclusive 


JOH.N    M.    CLAYTON.  2OI 

soever  the  benefit  might  be,  would  be  freely  granted 
by  them  —  sentiment  and  interest  both  agreeing.  But 
no  separate  treaty,  with  respect  to  inter -oceanic  com 
munication  for  separate  ends  or  objects  alone,  had  ever 
been  made  with  any  of  them  —  all  Administrations  re 
fraining  from  using  our  influence,  as  a  great  and  con 
stantly  growing  power,  for  that  purpose.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  neglect  of  previous  Governments 
here  to  make  a  show  of  responding  to  the  spirit  and 
recognizing  the  policy  of  the  Monroe  recommendation, 
it  cannot  be  charged  that  any  Administration  had  sought 
to  use  our  importance  with  our  feeble  co-republics,  for 
gains  of  our  own  merely.  It  is  not  the  genius  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  to  acquire,  unfairly,  any 
right  or  advantage.  At  the  same  time  they  are  watch 
ful  of  their  interests.  It  was  in  a  spirit  of  unselfish 
ness  that  the  mere  provisions  about  the  canal  were 
made ;  but  at  the  same  time  the  advice,  "  carpe  diem" 
was  not  lost  sight  of.  The  opportunity  offered  was  a 
good  one  to  secure  ourselves  against  all  trouble  here 
after  from  the  British  in  Central  America.  How  it 
was  availed  of,  the  language  of  the  Clayton  -  Bulwer 
Treaty  best  explains.  It  might  have  been  supposed 
that  this  treaty  would  have  been  considered,  at  least 
by  our  own  people,  as  a  signal  example  of  diplomatic 
skill,  entitling  the  Administration  of  General  Taylor  to 
unqualified  praise,  for,  to  observe  it,  not  only  required 
of  Great  Britain  the  abandonment  of  all  claim  to  a 
foothold  in  Central  America,  including  the  Mosquito 
Coast,  for  any  purpose  whatever,  but  it  engaged  her 


202  MEMOIR    OF    • 

powerful  services  (which  no  spirit  of  disparagement  can 
undervalue)  for  the  protection  by  herself,  in  co-opera 
tion  with  the  United  States,  of  any  canal,  or  railway, 
that  might  be  made  to  connect  the  oceans,  or  estab 
lish  transit  from  the  one  to  the  other ;  and  also 
required,  and  bound,  the  contracting  parties,  by  an  en 
gagement,  to  invite  all  other  States  with  whom  both  or 
either  had  friendly  intercourse,  to  enter  into  like  stipu 
lations  with  them  —  to  the  end  that  such  States  might 
share  in  the  honor  and  advantage  of.  having  contrib 
uted  to  so  great  an  enterprise.  This  was  not  the  case, 
however.  A  sort  of  fatuity  seems,  at  a  subsequent 
date,  to  have  possessed  some  of  the  great  men  in 
public  life,  as  was  shown  by  the  result  of  a  debate 
upon  the  treaty  during  the  Administration  of  Mr. 
Pierce. 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  TAYLOR  AND  RETIRE 
MENT  OF  MR.  CLAYTON. 

On  the  Qth  of  July,  1850,  General  Taylor  un 
expectedly  died,  and  Mr.  Clayton  thus  obtained  the 
release  from  public  cares  which  he  had  sought  almost 
from  the  first  of  his  taking  office  in  the  Administra 
tion.  Nothing  but  his  strong  personal  attachment  to 
the  President,  and  determination  that  the  latter  should 
not  be  disappointed  of  the  aid  at  his  hands,  upon 
which  he  so  much  relied,  induced  him  to  remain  at 
Washington  so  long  as  he  did.  If  he  had  died  when 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

the  President  did,  his  name  would  have  gone  down 
to  posterity  as  one  of  the  brightest  that  had  adorned 
the  national  page;  but  he  was  destined,  at  a  later  day, 
to  figure  again  in  public  life,  as  will  hereafter  be 
shown,  and  to  add  to  his  renown,  as  an  orator  and 
debater  in  Congress. 

Nor  was  the  life  of  John  M.  Clayton,  after  the 
decease  of  General  Taylor,  and,  before  his  return  to  the 
Senate  in  1853,  undistinguished  by  any  public  act  or 
expression.  On  the  I4th  of  October  next  after  his 
return  to  his  home,  a  meeting  of  his  political  friends 
was  held  in  Wilmington,  for  the  purpose  of  honoring 
him  with  a  public  dinner.  It  was  presided  over  by 
the  venerable  John  Connell,  and  a  committee  of  invi 
tation  was  appointed,  of  which  his  friend,  the  Hon, 
John  Wales,  was  chairman.  In  response  to  their  com 
plimentary  letter,  his  reply  of  acceptance  contained, 
among  other  things,  the  following  language : 

"  My  object  in  waiting  upon  you  will  be  to  offer 
my  thanks  to  my  fellow  citizens  of  this,  the  State  of 
my  nativity,  for  all  the  confidence  and  kindness  they 
have  so  uniformly  extended  to  me  through  a  long 
public  life.  At  different  periods  I  have  held  most  of 
the  public  places  of  trust  and  honor  within  their  gift  : 
and  now  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  evince  my  grati 
tude,  not  in  thanks  for  future  favors,  but  for  those 
which,  by  their  partiality  and  friendship,  have  been 
profusely  bestowed  upon  me.  The  very  flattering  terms 
in  which  you  have  spojcen  of  my  public  services,  are 
greatly  appreciated,  and  I  desire  now  to  express  my 


204  MEMOIR    OF 

acknowledgments  to  those  who  have  deputed  you  to 
honor  me  with  such  an  invitation,  and  to  you,  gen 
tlemen,  for  whom  individually  I  have  long  cherished 
sentiments  of  the  highest  personal  regard." 

The  company  was  presided  over  by  the  late  Charles 
I.  DuPont  —  a  very  devoted  friend  of  the  guest  —  and 
in  answer  to  a  complimentary  toast,  prefaced  by  a 
speech  from  the  President,  Mr.  Clayton  made  an  ad 
dress  .characterized  by  all  his  eloquence,  and  a  more 
than  common  share  of  the  cogency  and  earnestness  that 
marked  his  public  utterances.  It  was  the  first  oppor 
tunity  that  presented  itself  for  an  exposition  of  the 
policy  of  the  Administration,  and  its  vindication  from 
the  assaults  which  had  been  unceasingly  made  upon 
it;  and  he  took  the  fullest  advantage  of  it.  Look 
where  you  will,  you  will  find  nothing  superior  to  the 
complete  defense  he  made  of  the  Administration  of 
General  Taylor,  claiming  for  himself  nothing  —  though 
he  might  have  aspired  to  much  —  and  uttering  the 
finest  sentiments  of  patriotism.  Referring  to  President 
Fillmore,  he  said  he  had  no  doubt  that  he  would  do 
his  whole  duty ;  and  hoped  that  they  would  be  will 
ing  to  join  with  him,  in  sustaining  him  in  the  dis 
charge  of  that  duty.  He  added  : 

"  In    his    patriotism,    and    that    of    the     members    of 

his    cabinet,    I    have    the    utmost    confidence.       I  have  no 

n    t,>  TK  !ic\-c'    thai    cither   of  them   would    have    re- 

fusju    his  aid  .  *   ,  the   settlement  of  these 

vexed    questions     th»v     IK-     had     1>     n 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


2O5 


on  the  basis  proposed  by  President  Taylor.  They 
have  acquiesced  in  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  the 
only  practicable  scheme  of  adjusting  those  difficulties. 
They  seek  to  sustain  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of 
their  country,  and  I  honor  them  for  their  purpose. 
While  they  stand  by  the  Union,  I  shall  be  with  them 
and  for  them.  If  there  be  any  one  sentiment  in  my 
bosom  more  deeply  seated  and  more  deeply  cherished 
than  all  others,  it  is  that  of  love  and  veneration  for 
the  institutions  which  our  fathers  have  left  us ;  and  for 
the  country,  the  whole  country,  covered  and  prqtected 
by  the  American  Constitution.  There  will  be  no 
help  for  me  or  mine  when  this  Union  shall  be  broken 
up;  and  should  that  melancholy  period  ever  arrive,  I 
shall  be  a  wanderer  without  a  home.  I  can  take  no 
part  for  one  section  against  the  other ;  to  me  the 
preservation  of  this  Union  is  a  matter  of  interest 
above  all  others ;  and,  if  necessary,  I  shall  be  true  to 
those  who  sustain  it,  to  the  last  of  my  blood  and 
my  breath." 


COMMODORE  JONES. 

No  man  had  a  greater  admiration  for  deeds  of 
heroism,  in  the  field  or  upon  the  deck,  than  John  M. 
Clayton.  With  the  history  of  every  great  captain,  of 
whatever  age,  or  race,  he  was  perfectly  familiar,  so  far 
as  research  or  personal  inquiry  could  give  him  knowl 
edge.  Where  the  records  of  the  past  furnished  the 
information,  he  searched  them  ;  where  tradition  and  his 
own  inquiries  could  alone*  serve  him,  he  possessed  him 
self  of  all  they  could  afford.  The  enthusiasm  of  his 

26 


2o6  MEMOIR    Oh 

regard  for  distinguished  heroes  tended  to  imbed  more 
deeply  in  his  tenacious  memory,  all  that  he  could  learn 
of  them.  Growing  up  at  a  time  when  there  were 
many  survivors  of  that  gallant  band,  the  Delaware  Reg 
iment,  whose  deeds  of  valor  occupy  so  broad  a  page 
of  the  record  of  the  nation's  heroic  strife  for  liberty, 
and  attaining  his  manhood  and  part  of  the  distinction 
which  awaited  him  in  early  life,  while  the  brave  sail 
ors,  Jones  and  McDonough,  were  yet  upon  the  stage 
of  existence,  he  gathered  from  them  all,  an  immense 
mass  of  fact  concerning  the  wars,  and  their  own  per 
sonal  experience  in  them,  which  not  only  gratified 
himself,  but  enabled  him  to  afford  pleasure  to  others 
•in  the  recital  of  them.  A  raconteur,  as  the  French 
call  it,  he  was,  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  term  —  a 
relater  of  facts  and  anecdotes  of  personal  history,  whose 
equal  is  rarely  found.  As  I  have  said,  in  treating  of 
Mr.  Clayton  personally,  he  never  forgot  anything  worthy 
of  being  remembered ;  and  whatever  concerned  the 
importance  of  the  State  —  whether  with  respect  of  her 
relation  to  her  sisters,  as  an  equal  in  sovereignty,  or 
the  high  deeds  of  her  public  men  —  was  as  familiar 
to  him  as  if  he  had  but  just  read  it  out  of  a  book. 
Hero  worship,  of  a  noble  kind,  was  a  feature  of  his 
character.  By  the  hour,  over  and  over  again,  many  of 
us  have  listened  to  such  recitals,  the  interest  of  which 
never  flagged  for  a  moment ;  nor  did  it  appear  that 
the  store  could  be  exhausted.  Dates  were  to  him 
matter  of  great  importance,  and  seldom  if  ever  were 
forgotten.  When  a  fact  was  stated,  involving  action, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2Q7 

the  very  day  would  be  given,  and  when  it  added  value 
to  the  circumstance  itself,  he  had  learned  the  hour  of 
its  performance. 

It  was  these  well  known  qualities,  which,  added  to 
a  long  subsisting  personal  friendship  and  admiration 
for  his  high  courage  and  great  simplicity  of  life,  that 
prompted  the  invitation  that  Mr.  Clayton  received,  to 
deliver  a  memoir  and  eulogy  upon  Commodore  Jacob 
Jones.  It  seems  that  during  the  latter  part  of  his  . 
life,  the  old  hero  expressed  a  desire,  that  when  he 
died,  his  bones  might  be  laid  in  his  native  soil  of 
Delaware.  This  being  known  to  the  people  of  this 
city,  many  of  them  applied  to  the  family  of  the  Com 
modore,  as  soon  as  they  received  intelligence  of  his 
death,  for  the  removal  of  the  remains  to  Delaware ; 
which  request  being  granted,  they  were  brought  here 
on  the  25th  of  October,  1850,  and  now  repose  in 
the  cemetery  of  Wilmington,  a  lot  in  which,  for  the 
purpose  of  their  interment,  had  been  generously  given 
by  the  Wilmington  and  Brandywine  Cemetery  Com 
pany.  It  being  thought  fit  that  the  occasion  should 
be  marked  by  some  public  expression  worthy  of  the 
dead,  and  of  the  people  who  honored  him,  Mr.  Clay 
ton  was  invited  to  deliver  an  address  upon  his  life 
and  services,  which,  as  an  admirer  and  long-time  per 
sonal  friend,  he  was  considered  peculiarly  qualified  to 
do.  No  connected  biography  of  Commodore  Jones 
had  ever  been  published,  nor  was  much  of  his  per 
sonal  history  known,  except  to  a  few  close  personal 
friends.  On  the  i/th  of  the  following  December, 


2Og  MEMOIR    OF 

that  duty  was  performed,  in  the  saloon  of  the  Odd 
Fellows'  Hall  in  Wilmington,  before  a  large  assemblage 
of  citizens  of  the  State,  and  at  its  close,  the  late 
Hon.  Willard  Hall  was  called  to  the  chair  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  expression,  by  the  meeting,  of 
their  thanks  for  the  address.  A  resolution  "  that  the 
thanks  of  this  community  be  presented  to  the  Hon. 
John  M.  Clayton,  for  the  eloquent  and  appropriate  ad 
dress  delivered  this  evening,  on  the  life,  character, 
and  public  services  of  Commodore  Jacob  Jones,"  was 
passed,  and  another  that  "  Mr.  Clayton  be  particularly 
requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  the  address  for  publica 
tion,"  —  which  request  was  complied  with.  This  ad 
dress  is  commended  to  the  perusal  of  all  for  its  mi 
nute  'relation  of  facts  in  the  life  of  the  subject  of  it, 
the  fine  display  of  his  valorous  services  for  the  coun 
try,  and  the  strong  and  graphic  language  in  which 
every  event  treated  of  is  related.  Would  that  others 
of  our  distinguished  dead  had  so  capable  and  enthu 
siastic  a  historian  ! 

STATE  CONVENTION. 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this 
State,  commenced  and  held  in  the  month  of  January 
1851,  an  act  was  passed  to  c'all  a  convention  of  the 
people  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  1831.  There  had 
been  no  steps  taken,  as  provided  for  in  that  instru 
ment,  warranting  the  passage  of  any  such  law ;  but, 
nevertheless,  a  statute  was  passed  on  the  26th  of  Feb- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


209 


ruary,  1851,  to  take  the  sense  of  the  people  upon  the 
question  of  a  convention,  at  an  election  to  be  held 
on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November  then  next  following, 
those  favoring  a  convention  to  vote  "for  a  conven 
tion,  "  and  those  not  favoring  to  vote  "  against  a  con 
vention.  "  Other  provisions  were  made  in  the  same 
bill  for  holding  the  convention. 

There  are  some  words  in  our  language,  a  skilful 
use  of  which  always  leads  the  public  mind  captive, — 
for  a  time  at  least.  One  of  these  is  the  word  reform. 
There  are  but  few  men  who  are  altogether  content  with 
what  is  around  them ;  and  they  are  never  active  citi 
zens,  and  but  rarely  men  of  decided  party  attachments. 
But  all  the  busy  -  bodies ;  the  malcontents  ;  the  discon? 
tents  ;  the  disappointed  aspirants  for  office ;  the  would- 
be  leaders  of  the  people ;  the  young  men  who  are 
ready  for  anything,  if  they  have  no  well  -  grounded 
moral  principle;  and  that  large  class,  whose  misfortunes 
or  follies  have  shipwrecked  their  fortunes,  and  who 
look  forward  only  for  something  which  may  turn  up, 
are  sure  to  be  for  reform.  The  term  sounds  well ; 
it  played  a  successful  part  in  1831,  convention  and 
reform  being  then  the  catchwords,  and  it  was  not 
doubted  that  the  phrase  would  be  equally  potent 
twenty  years  afterwards ;  and  so  in  fact  it  was.  A 
majority  was  for  a  convention,  and  the  Legislature,  on 
the  4th  day  of  the  following  February,  passed  an  act 
for  holding  it  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  December,  then 
next,  and  for  the  election  of  delegates  thereto  at  an 
election  to  be  held  on  the  preceding  second  Tuesday 


2IO  MEMOIR    OF 

of  November.  The  mere  politicians  of  the  Whig  party 
gave  way  to  their  fears  that  their  opponents  would 
reap  rewards  from  the  movement,  and  took  part,  in 
one  way  or  another,  in  it,  else  it  could  have  had  no 
real  strength.  This  is  one  of  the  fatal  mistakes  which 
manoeuverers  always  make.  As  the  call  for  the  con 
vention  was  deemed  to  be,  in  reality,  a  revolutionary 
act,  under  the  disguise  of  law  —  the  requirements  of 
the  Constitution  for  calling  a  convention  not  having 
been  observed  —  Mr.  Clayton  resolved  to  defeat  the 
object  of  the  movers  in  the  scheme,  if  possible.  The 
Whig  party  had  not  yet  been  swallowed  up  by  what 
was  called  the  American  movement;  but  had  still  much 
of  that  rare  vitality  which  enabled  it,  so  long,  with  a 
meagre  majority  of  two  or  three  hundred  in  the  State, 
to  resist  the  assaults  of  its  watchful  and  astute  ad 
versary.  It  had  been  defeated,  it  is  true,  in  the  gu 
bernatorial  contest  of  1850;  but  it  still  retained  the 
Legislature  and  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  as  ap 
peared  by  other  evidences.  Such  being  the  case,  a 
convention,  of  one  hundred  delegates  from  each  coun 
ty,  was  called,  to  meet  at  Dover  on  the  8th  of  June? 
1852,  really  to  take  action  in  regard  to  the  conven 
tion,  but  apparently  for  other  purposes  also.  It  was 
composed  of  the  best  men  of  a  party  which  (now 
that  it  is  buried  with  the  past  of  other  political  or 
ganizations)  it  can  offend  no  one  to  speak  of,  at  this 
day,  or  otf^this  occasion,  as  a  party  that  felt  always 
the  responsibility  upon  itself  of  selecting  suitable  men 
for  important  places.  Before  the  convention  adjourned, 


JOHN    M.    CLAY  TOM.  211 

it  adopted  and  spread  before  the  people  an  address, 
as  an  opposition  to  the  legality  of  the  proposed  con 
vention,  which,  for  force  and  clearness  of  argument, 
vigor  of  expression,  lucidity  of  language,  and  careful 
view  of  all  the  questions  urged  by  the  friends  of  the 
measure,  and  the  refutation  of  them,  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  praise.  Mr.  Clayton  prepared  it,  and  it  an 
swered  the  purpose  —  not  to  prevent  the  holding  of 
the  convention  ;  things  had  gone  too  far  for  that  — 
but  to  defeat  its  offspring,  when  submitted  for  appro 
val  by  the  people.  It  was  rejected  so  decidedly,  al 
though  a  few  able  men  helped  to  construct  it,  that 
the  subject  has  never  been  seriously  agitated  since. 
By  the  time  the  ratification  election  came  around,  the 
conservative  mind  of  our  people  had  gained  time  for 
reflection ;  and  they  wisely  determined  "  rather  to  bear 
the  ills  they  had  than  fly  to  others  that  they  knew 
not  of." 


RE  -  ELECTION  TO  THE  SENATE  —  CLAYTON  - 
BULWER   TREATY. 

The  general  election  of  1852  resulted  in  giving  to 
the  Whigs  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  this  State;  but  the  Democrats  had  the  Sen 
ate.  This  condition  of  things  was  brought  about 
through  a  breach  in  the  ranks  of  the  Whig  party, 
caused  by  the  secession,  in  1850,  of  gentlemen  who 
honestly  thought  thus  to  advance  the  cause  of  tern- 


2|2  MEMOIR    OJ- 

perance  reform,  though  the  Whig  party  might  be  de 
feated  by  their  course.  The  great  end  of  temperance 
legislation  was  thought  to  outweigh  political  consid 
erations. 

As  the  term  in  the  United  States  Senate  would 
expire  on  the  3d  of  March,  1853,  ^  was  said  on  a^ 
sides  that  the  State  would  go  unrepresented  by  one 
Senator  in  the  32d  Congress  ;  because  the  Democrats 
of  the  State  Senate  would  not  go  into  joint  meeting, 
as  the  Whigs  would  have  a  majority  when  the  two 
Houses  were  together.  Mr.  Clayton  was  in  quiet  re 
tirement  at  Buena  Vista,  taking  no  active  part  in  po 
litical  affairs,  and  not  desiring  again  to  enter  public 
life.  He  would  have  felt  justified  iri  his  state  of  in 
action,  but  for  an  event  that  roused  him  from  his  re 
pose,  and  sent  a  thrill  of  excitement  throughout  the 
whole  country.  It  was  this : 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1853,  General  Cass  intro 
duced  into  the  Senate,  the  subject  of  the  Central 
American  Treaty,  heretofore  spoken  of,  —  commonly 
called  the  Clayton  -  Bulwer  Treaty.  This  he  did  by 
way  of  what  is  called  a  personal  explanation ;  and 
in  making  it,  charged  the  late  Secretary  (Clayton) 
with  having  recognized  the  British  title  to  Belize  or 
British  Honduras — and  also,  indirectly,  with  falsehood, 
in  stating  in  his  letter  to  Sir  Henry  L.  Bulwer,  of 
the  4th  of  July,  1850  (the  day  of  exchange  of  rati 
fication  of- the  treaty),  that  the  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Senate,  William 
R.  King,  of  Alabama,  perfectly  understood  that  Belize 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


213 


was  not  included  in  the  treaty.  Here  was  a  charge 
of  two  things:  the  compromise  of  his  Government,  by 
the  Secretary,  and  a  false  representation,  as  excuse  for 
it.  If  there  was  anything  that  especially  characterized 
Mr.  Clayton,  it  was  his  complete  understanding  of 
every  subject  he  undertook  to  deal  with ;  and  no 
man,  also,  was  more  sensitive  when  falsehood,  in 
whatever  form,  was  charged  upon  him.  The  imputa 
tion  of  false  statement  to  the  British  diplomatist  pro 
duced  upon  him  the  effect  the  direct  charge  by  Lord 
Marmion  wrought  upon  the  old  Douglas,  "  it  shook  his 
very  frame  for  ire."  His  wrath  was  great,  but  what 
could  he  do  ?  Answer  the  charges  in  the  newspapers 
he  promptly  did  ;  showing  the  facts  and  fortifying 
himself,  in  support  of  them,  by  testimony  of  others, 
including  a  letter  from  Col.  King.  All  this  was  seen 
by  the  Michigan  Senator,  but  he  reiterated  his  charges, 
and  as  he  was  known  to  be  a  gentleman  of  vast  in 
formation  and  influence,  and  had,  but  four  years  pre 
viously,  been  honored  by  his  party  with  a  nomination 
for  the  Presidency,  the  attention  of  the  whole  country 
was  attracted  to  the  controversy  between  these  men  — 
unequal,  however,  in  one  sense,  that  the  assailant 
stood  on  the  high  plane  of  his  Senatorial  position  — 
"  the  observed  of  all  observers,"  while  the  assailed  was 
withdrawn  from  conspicuity,  by  the  obscurity  of  private 
life  in  the  country.  The  newspaper  press  of  General 
Cass's  party,  of  course,  made  the  most  of  the  charges, 
and  rung  their  changes  from  one  end  of  the  country  to 

the  other.     The  opportunity  to  crush  the  Whigs  by  show 
er 


MEMOIR    OF 

ing  that  their  Secretary  of  State  had,  through  ignorance, 
or  worse,  given  away  the  interests  of  his  country, 
and  then  basely  tried  to  shield  himself  from  the  in 
dignation  such  conduct  deserved,  was  not  to  be  neg 
lected.  What  little  of  vitality  there  remained  in  a  de 
caying  organization  that  had  proved  to  be,  in  its 
palmy  days,  and  under  the  leadership  as  well  of 
Clayton  as  of  Clay,  so  sharp  a  thorn  in  the  side  of 
its  great  rival,  was  to  be  crushed  out.  The  spur  of 
destruction  of  a  foe,  was  the  prick  to  the  sides  of 
party  intent :  and  it  was  used  unsparingly.  While  the 
assault  was  commenced  by  General  Cass  —  a  very 
chivalric,  though  not  always  (as  was  proved  in  this 
case)  safe  leader  —  yet  there  were  others  prepared  to 
follow  and  support  him,  as  the  sequel  showed. 

The  people  of  this  State  were,  of  course,  especially 
concerned  about  the  charges  of  General  Cass ;  but 
what  could  be  done  to  place  the  antagonists  upon 
the  same  footing  ?  With  the  Legislature  composed  as 
it  was — the  Senate  Democratic,  the  House  Whig, — 
it  was  not  supposed  that  a  joint  session  could  be  se 
cured,  and  Clayton  sent  back  to  his  seat  in  the  Sen 
ate.  Men  looked  on,  in  grief  and  despair.  The  case 
seemed  hopeless ;  an  innocent  man  was  to  be  ruined 
forever,  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow  -  citizens,  and 
there  seemed  no  help  for  it.  Such  was  the  intensity 
of  party  feeling  among  us,  that  the  Whigs  had  no 
hope  that  their  idol  could  be  sent  back  to  meet  his 
foes  upon  a  common  arena.  They  had  seen,  from 
the  publication  that  Clayton  had  made,  immediately 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2I$ 

upon  the  opening  of  the  charge  by  General  Cass, 
that  if  an  opportunity  were  given  him  to  meet  his 
accuser  face  to  face,  a  complete  defence  and  refuta 
tion  would  be  made.  But  there  was  the  obstacle  of 
a  hostile  Senate  —  that  could  not  be  overcome ! 

Fortunately  for  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Clayton,  and 
what  is  much  more,  that  of  his  State — whose  pride 
and  honor,  both  friend  and  foe  had  felt,  were  safe  in  his 
keeping,  but  which  would  greatly  suffer  by  the  imputa- 
tation  cast  upon  him — party  politics,  though  charac 
terized  in  Delaware  by  the  same  zeal  and  fervor  that 
prevailed  elsewhere,  had  not  yet  made  enemies  of  men, 
personally.  Some  of  the  strongest  partisans  in  this 
State,  of  opposite  politics,  were  warm  personal  friends ; 
and  it  was  the  boast  of  our  people,  that  none  of  the 
acrimony  of  party  was  ever,  except  upon  the  rarest 
occasions,  at  the  polls,  allowed  to  transfuse  itself  into, 
and  transform  the  affections  into  hostilities.  When  the 
battle  was  over,  all  were  friends.  Besides,  the  people 
of  our  little  commonwealth,  with  the  Anglo-Saxon 
blood  flowing  in  their  veins,  were  lovers  of  fair  play> 
and  had  ever,  in  their  private  and  public  life,  ac 
corded  to  a  person  accused  the  benefit  of  the  legal 
presumption  of  innocence,  till  it  was  overcome  by 
proof  of  guilt.  These  noble  feelings,  added  to  an 
admiration  all  felt  for  the  talents  and  virtues  of  Mr. 
Clayton,  stirred  the  Democratic  heart ;  and,  to  their 
great  honor,  they  consented  to  a  joint  meeting  of  the 
Legislature,  so  that  Clayton  should  go  back  to  Wash 
ington  and  meet  his  assailants  at  the  bar  of  public 


2I6  MEMOIR    OF 

judgment.  This  determination  on  the  part  of  the  Dem- 
crats  was  greeted,  everywhere,  as  an  act  of  high  pa 
triotic  conduct,  as  it  deserved  to  be. 

Mr.  Clayton  felt  deeply  grateful  for  his  election, 
which  took  place  on  the  I2th  day  of  January,  and 
came  to  Dover  as  soon  as  it  was  announced  to  him  ; 
and  at  the  earliest  period  that  '  preparation  could  be 
made  for  that  purpose,  entertained  at  dinner,  at  the 
chief  hotel  in  Dover,  the  General  Assembly,  the  State 
officers,  and  the  principal  men  of  both  parties,  all  over 
the  State,  particularly  selecting  the  leading  Democrats, 
to  whose  party  he  felt  so  grateful  for  its  magnanimity. 
The  event  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  were  present.  The  best  of  feeling  prevailed 
throughout ;  and  the  speech  delivered  by  himself, 
when  called  out,  was  a  calm,  convincing  statement  of 
the  propriety  of  his  course  in  the  treaty  negotiation, 
and  satisfied  everybody  that  when  he  could  obtain  a 
hearing  in  the  Senate,  his  vindication  would  be  com 
plete.  He  greatly  pleased  his  political  adversaries  by 
the  manly  sentiments  expressed  throughout  his  remarks 
in  regard  to  the  relations  of  a  personal  kind,  which 
should  never  be  disturbed  by  the  strife  of  party. 
Many  who  were  present  responded  afterwards  in  a  like 
spirit ;  and  the  occasion  has  ever  since  been  regarded, 
by  those  who  participated  in  it,  as  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  events  of  our  party  life  in  Delaware.  Here 
and  there,  among  a  few  men,  the  feeling  so  universal 
at  that  period,  shows  itself  now-a-days;  but  the  rule 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2I/ 

is,  either  active  personal  enmity,  or  a  smothered  rancor, 
all    the.    more   bitter   because    concealed. 

Eager  to  vindicate  the  Administration  of  General 
Taylor,  on  account  of  the  treaty,  and  himself  as  our 
negotiator  of  it,  and  reassure  the  country,  he  .lost  no 
time  in  repairing  to  his  post  of  duty ;  there  was  also 
the  additional  motive  of  shielding  the  State  he  loved 
from  the  dishonor  and  loss  of  prestige  that  would 
befall  her,  by  the  disclosure  that  one  of  her  sons  had 
proved  faithless  to,  or  ignorant  of,  the  business  he  had 
undertaken  to  do.  To  those  who  knew  Mr.  Clayton's 
sensitive  nature,  it  need  not  be  said  that  he  suffered 
intensely  from  the  reflections  that  crowded  upon  his 
mind  at  this  time,  —  and  that  he  chafed  at  the  time 
which  must  elapse,  before  the  opportunity  could  be 
given  him  for  his  vindication.  There  was  another 
sting  added  to  these  —  that  he  should  seem  to  have 
been  "outwitted"  by  Sir  Henry  Bulwer.  (Sir  Henry 
had  been  trained  in  the  school  of  diplomacy  —  a 
science  requiring  great  natural  acuteness  of  intellect,  as 
well  as  intimate  knowledge  of  international  law,  diplo 
matic  history,  and  all  the  delicate  and  subtle  arts  —  I  will 
not  say,  of  finesse — that  qualify  men  for  intercourse  and 
negotiation  as  representatives  of  their  Governments.)  It 
galled  him,  that  he,  who  as,  he  believed,  had  sounded 
the  "  depths  and  shoals"  of  all  that  his  place  required 
of  him,  should  be  thought  to  have  given  up  anything 
he  ought  to  have  insisted  upon,  in  making  that  treaty 
—  should  have  recognized  the  title  in  the  British  to 
any  part  of  Central  America,  which  it  was  the  inter- 


2I3  MEMOIR    OF 

est  of  this  country  he  should  not  do.  There  was  the 
further  feeling,  that  his  personal  reputation  would 
suffer  with  his  friends,  if  it  should  appear  to  them 
that  he  was  not  equal  to  any  task  he  saw  fit  to  un 
dertake..  As  I  have  said,  he  was  deeply  touched,  that 
his  political  foes  had  given  him  the  chance  to  explain 
and  defend ;  and  he  gratefully  remembered  it  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

On  the  8th  of  March  following  his  election  to  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Clayton  entered  upon  his  answer  to  the 
speech  of  General  Cass  —  opening  his  address  with  this 
language : 

"  In  rising,  for  the  first  time,  after  a  long  absence, 
to  address  the  Senate,  I  labor  under  some  embarrass 
ment  from  observing  that  gentlemen  around  me  are 
generally  strangers  to  me,  and  that  not  a  single  indi 
vidual  of  my  ancient  associates,  who  served  with  me 
in  this  body  twenty-four  years  ago,  is  now  present.  I 
am  irresistibly  led  back  to  the  events  of  a  period  over 
which  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  spread  its 
mantle,  when  those  who  filled  this  chamber,  as  the 
representatives  of  the  sovereign  States  of  this  Union, 
mingled  in  discussion  on  the  great  issues  then  before 
the  country,  and  when  the  walls  of  this  chamber  daily 
rang  with  the  echoes  of  their  voices,  as  they  poured 
forth  '  the  logic,  and  the  wisdom,  and  the  wit,'  for 
which  they  were  so  pre-eminently  distinguished.  Their 
debates  were  but  justly  compared  to  the  procession  of 
a  Roman  triumph,  moving  in  dignity  and  order  to  the 
lofty  music  of  its  march,  and  glittering  all  over  with  the 
spoils  of  the  civilized  world.  The  last  of  them  who 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  21o 

left  this  scene  of  their  strifes  and  contentions,  was  the 
present  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Hon. 
William  R.  King,  who  presided  over  the  deliberations 
of  the  Senate  nearly  twenty  years,  with  unsurpassed 
ability  and  impartiality,  and  who,  during  a  long  period, 
occupied  the  post  of  chief  distinction  here,  as  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations  : 

'  Statesman,  yet  friend  to  truth,  of  soul  sincere, 
In   action  faithful,  and   in   honor  clear.' 

"  I  confess  also,  a  feeling  of  embarrassment  from 
another  source.  I  am  called  upon  to  vindicate  myself 
against  charges  of  the  grossest  character,  preferred 
against  me  here,  during  my  absence.  It  is  the 
first  time  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  that  I  have 
found  it  necessary  to  defend  myself  against  degrading 
imputations  before  any  public  tribunal.  The  calum 
nies  which  have  been  uttered  here,  were  all  made  in 
connection  with  the  treaty  of  the  igth  of  April,  1850; 
and  I  intend,  if  health  and  strength  permit,  to  vindi 
cate  the  course  which  I  adopted  while  acting  as  Sec 
retary  of  State  under  the  lamented  Taylor,  in  regard 
to  the  negotiation  of  that  treaty.  It  is  a  duty  incum 
bent  on  me  to  speak;  not,  however,  merely  for  my 
own  vindication,  but  to  enable  others  now  in  the  Ad 
ministration  of  the  Government  to  understand  a  subject 
upon  which  truth  has  been  more  perverted,  and  false 
hood  more  industriously  propagated,  than  on  any  other 
topic  of  the  day.  In  discharging  this  duty,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  speak  of  others  with  all  possible  respect, 
consistently  with  what  I  owe  to  truth,  to  the  country, 
and  to  myself.  All  who  recollect  my  course  of 
conduct  when  I  occupied  a  seat  in  this  chamber,  will 
bear  me  witness  that  I  never  assailed  any  man  per- 


220  MEMOIR    OF 

sonally  in  debate  —  never  was  engaged  in  any  contro 
versy,  personal  in  its  character,  with  any  one,  unless 
it  was  previously  provoked  by  him,  odi  accipitrem. 
But  now,  let  it  be  well  understood  by  all  here,  that 
for  every  word  I  utter  in  debate,  I  hold  myself  per 
sonally  responsible  everywhere  as  a  gentleman  and  a 
man  of  honor.  I  have  very  great  contempt  for  that 
class  of  puppies  whose  courage  is  evinced  by  their 
silence  when  they  are  hung  up  by  the  ear.  When 
attacked,  I  will  defend  myself,  without  the  slightest 
regard  to  consequences  ;  and  in  doing  that,  as  I  am 
liable  to  the  infirmities  of  other  men,  I  will  carry 
the  war  into  Africa  whenever  I  think  the  assailant 
worthy  of  my  notice.  On  this  occasion  much  of 
what  I  had  intended  to  say  must  be  omitted,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  absence  of  the  distinguished  Senator 
from  Michigan  (Mr.  Cass),  who  introduced  the  discus 
sion  in  this  chamber  on  Thursday,  the  6th  of  Janu 
ary  last.  I  regret  his  absence,  and  the  cause  of  it. 
I  cannot  say  those  things  which  I  had  intended  to 
say  to  him,  if  he  were  here,  for  I  do  not  much  ap 
prove  of  the  modern  plan  of  attacking  absent  men, 
who  can  have  no  opportunity  of  defending  themselves 
on  the  spot.  However,  in  speaking  of  the  subject  re 
ferred  to  in  that  debate,  in  which  that  Senator  was 
my  principal  accuser  during  my  absence,  I  must 
necessarily  speak  of  him,  because  my  own  defence, 
for  which  I  have  demanded  liberty  of  speech  at  the 
the  first  moment  after  the  Senate  could  probably  hear 
me,  would  otherwise  be  unintelligible.  And  I  will  say 
further,  that  I  am  willing  to  remain  here  till  harvest, 
if  necessary,  in  order  that  all  others  who  may  choose 
to  reply  to  anything  I  shall  say,  may  have  full  and 
ample  opportunity  of  doing  so." 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  221 

Then  followed  a  vindication  of  the  Administration 
from  the  charges  made  against  it,  which  enchained  the 
attention  of  the  Senate,  and  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  country  also  to  the  true  facts  which  governed 
the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  as  well  as  to  the  success 
of  our  diplomacy  in  securing  the  Central  American 
territory,  in  all  time,  from  colonization  by  the  British, 
and  from  occupation,  or  fortification,  for  any  purpose. 
We  became  equally  bound,  of  course  ;  but  we  had  no 
foothold,  or  protectorate,  there,  as  Great  Britain  had 
claimed  to  have,  and  besides,  it  was  not  our  interest 
as  a  nation  to  own  any  territory  in  that  quarter, 
separated  by  more  than  the  width  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  from  any  of  our  possessions.  What  we  desired, 
and  what  our  interest  required,  was  that  the  Central 
American  States,  having  free  government  like  our  own, 
should  preserve  their  autonomy,  and  that  England 
should  not  possess,  there,  any  power  whatever.  This 
was  secured  by  the  treaty  —  with  the  additional  engage 
ment  to  protect  any  persons,  or  company,  who  might 
undertake  the  business  of  digging  a  canal,  or  making  a 
railroad,  across  any  part  of  their  territory.  And  there 
was  secured  also  this  further  important  stipulation  — 
that  each  should  endeavor  to  induce  other  nations  to 
enter  into  like  conventions. 

It  is  entirely  unnecessary  to  give  the  speech  of 
Mr.  Clayton,  or  those  of  the  Senators,  supporting  Gen 
eral  Cass,  who  replied  to  it,  as  they  are  printed  at 
large  in  the  Congressional  Globe.  Those  Senators  were 

Messrs.    Mason,    of  Virginia,  and  Douglas,  of  Illinois  — 

28 


222  MEMOIR   OF 

both  able  men,  the  former  of  long  experience  in  di 
plomatic  affairs  as  a  member  of  the  Foreign  Relations 
Committee,  and  the  latter  one  of  the  most  talented 
debaters  that  ever  held  a  seat  in  the  Senate.  The 
speech  to  which  they  replied  had  been  delivered  by 
Clayton  without  any  interruption,  except  a  single  ex 
planation  by  Mr.  Douglas,  and  was  a  calm,  clear, 
exhaustive  examination  of  the  whole  question  from  the 
beginning,  and  with  an  argument  pervading  it  calcu 
lated  to  convince  all  rational  minds  that  the  interests 
and  welfare  of  the  country  had  been  safe  in  the  Sec 
retary's  hands.  But  either  from  being  unable  to  view 
the  matter  in  the  light  Clayton  did,  or  failing  to  un 
derstand  the  true  merits,  of  the  case  and  the  difficul 
ties  that  beset  any  attempt  to  make  a  treaty  of  extru 
sion,  or  possibly  from  a  desire  to  belittle  the  ser 
vices  of  the  Secretary,  and  at  the  same  time  to  create 
a  subject  for  party  service,  those  gentlemen  brought 
to  their  aid,  in  their  respective  replies,  an  immense 
amount  of  ardor,  and  (what  seemed  to  Clayton)  not 
only  uncandor,  but  fierce  spirit  of  condemnation 
Leaders  of  sentiments,  as  those  gentlemen  undoubtedly 
were  —  the  one  of  the  strong  anti  -  British  feeling  of  the 
South,  and  the  other  of  the  rampant  doctrines  of 
young  America,  —  their  speeches  attracted  a  great  deal 
of  attention.  In  the  general  ignorance  of  the  whole 
subject  which  prevailed,  men  were  more  than  usually 
inclined  to  rely  upon  the  words  of  their  party 
chiefs;  and,  as  the  Democratic  party  was  in  majority 
at  that  time,  the  treaty  was  in  .great  danger  of  being 


JOHN   M.    CLAYTON. 

repudiated,  so  far  as  it  could  be,  by  the  popular 
voice.  The  whole  subject  required  too  much  reading 
to  be  fully  understood;  and  the  masses  scarcely  read 
anything  but  party  speeches  and  newspapers.  Mason 
and  Douglas  had  an  advantage  over  Clayton,  in  adopt 
ing  what  is  always,  at  first,  the  popular  side  — that 
which  seems  to  stand  best  by  the  country.  But  when 
he  came  to  reply  to  them  on  the  I4th  of  March,  he 
knew  exactly  what  he  had  to  meet,  and  went  at  his 
work,  as  he  always  did  at  any  that  interested  him, 
with  all  the  power  that  was  in  him.  And,  if  he  had 
lacked  anything  to  thoroughly  .rouse  him,  it  was  the 
constant  interruptions  made  by  his  antagonists.  To  use 
a  very  expressive,  strong  phrase  of  the  present  day  — 
he  "  made  it  very  hot "  for  them  in  many  ways  ; 
and  when  he  closed  his  speech,  there  was  but  one 
sentiment  on  the  part  of  those  who  heard  it  —  that  it 
not  only  completely  vindicated  the  treaty  itself  (as 
in  fact  the  first  speech  had  done),  but  overthrew  all 
the  reasons  urged  against  it,  as  well  as  those  who 
brought  them  forward ;  and  such  was  the  judgment 
of  the  country  also,  when  the  debate  was  published. 
The  subject  then  passed  from  the  consideration  of  the 
Senate,  and  was  not  taken  up  again  until  the  Decem 
ber  following. 

On  the  1 2th  of  December,  1853,  the  Senate  passed 
a  joint  resolution  calling  upon  the  President  for 
the  correspondence,  between  our  own  and  the  Brit 
ish  Government,  on  subjects  growing  out  of  the 
treaty  of  the  igth  of  April,  1850,  since  the  mes- 


224  MEMOIR    OF 

sage  of  the  President  of  the  3Oth  of  December, 
1852;  and  on  the  5th  of  the  .following  month 
General  Cass  had  moved  to  refer  to  the  Committee 
of  Foreign  Relations  the  answer  made  to  the  Senate 
by  the  President  on  the  3d,  communicating  the  infor 
mation  called  for.  To  understand  the  matter,  it  is 
necessary  to  say  that  though  the  treaty  was  duly 
ratified  by  the  British  Government,  yet  it  soon  be 
came  apparent  that  the  English  felt  that  their  inter 
ests  had  been  seriously  affected,  without  any  com 
pensating  equivalent,  or  even  benefit.  While  such 
rights  as  they  held  in  British  Honduras  were  not  im 
pugned  by  the  treaty,  yet  they  were  not  recognized 
directly  or  indirectly  —  as  was  consistent  with  Clay 
ton's  course  in  recalling  the  consul  sent  to  the  Belize. 
The  truth  is,  the  treaty  had  nothing  to  do  with 
British  Honduras,  because  it  had  never  formed  any 
part  of  Central  America,  politically  considered,  but  had 
been  part  of  Yucatan,  a  possession  of  Mexico.  But 
this  was  not  the  trouble.  The  real  difficulty  was,  that 
the  protectorate  of  the  Mosquito  kingdom,  which  was 
a  part  of  Central  America  (being  within  the  limits  of 
Nicaragua)  would  cease  to  be  of  any  advantage  to 
Great  Britain,  as  neither  of  the  parties  could  "  occupy 
or  fortify,  or  colonize,  or  assume  or  exercise  any  do 
minion  over  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  the  Mosquito 
Coast,  or  any  part  of  Central  America,"  nor  could 
either  use  any  protection  that  either  afforded,  or  might 
afford,  or  any  alliance  that  either  had  or  might  have 
to  or  with  any  State  or  people,  "  for  the  purpose  of 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  22$ 

erecting  or  maintaining  any  such  fortifications,  or  of 
occupying  or  colonizing  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  the 
Mosquito  Coast,  or  any  part  of  Central  America,  or 
of  assuming  or  exercising  any  dominion  over  the  same." 
The  scope  of  this  language  was  not  appreciated  by 
the  British  Government  at  the  time  it  gave  its  assent 
to  the  ratification. 

England  found  herself,  as  we  may  suppose,  the  loser 
by  the  treaty,  unless  she  could  impress  her  construc 
tion  of  it  upon  the  judgment  of  other  peoples.  A 
first  step  towards  that  end  was  to  act,  in  all  respects, 
about  Central  American  affairs,  as  she  had  done  before, 
and  to  cling  to  her  hold  there  by  continuing  to  oc 
cupy  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua  —  or  Greytown,  as  she 
chose  to  call  it,  the  more  to  emphasize  her  owner 
ship  or  control  of  it.  Now  this  port  was  exactly  at 
the  proposed  eastern  terminus  of  the  ship  canal  most 
favored  by  the  United  States.  Additionally,  she  dis 
covered  that  while  any  protectorate  she  might  have 
over  the  wretched  Indian  tribe  claiming  to  hold  the 
Mosquito  Coast  (she  claimed  that  she  had  exercised 
the  office  of  protector  there  for  two  centuries),  was 
not,  in  terms,  taken  away  from  her  by  the  treaty, 
yet  that  it  was  deprived  of  all  value  to  her,  and  "a 
barren  sceptre  in  her  gripe."  Something  must  be  done, 
however ;  it  must  be  made  appear  that  the  American 
interpretation  of  the  treaty  was  wrong,  and  her  own 
right.  This  was  attempted  in  a  variety  of  ways  —  by 
speeches,  correspondence,  and  otherwise. 

The   debate    which   arose   out   of  the   subjects   of  in- 


226  MEMOIR   OF 

formation,  communicated  by  the  President's  message 
(which  it  is  unnecessary  to  recite  here,  as  they  are 
accessible  to  all,  in  the  published  proceedings  of  the 
Senate),  develop  the  fact  that  the  treaty  had  not  only 
been  entirely  misunderstood  by  its  assailants,  at  the 
session  of  1853,  but  that  it  was,  in  truth,  a  most  ex 
traordinary  achievement  by  our  negotiator.  General 
Cass,  who  had,  as  before  related,  made  the  attack 
upon  it  which  caused  his  friends  in  Delaware  to  throw 
off  party  to  give  their  fellow  -  citizen  a  chance  to 
reply  to  it,  in  the  course  of  a  speech,  delivered  by 
him  on  the  I  ith  of  January,  1856,  used  this  language: 
—  "Nor  do  I  see,  in  *any  view,  what  we  can  gain  by 
a  new  treaty  (the  British  had  proposed  one).  The 
first  is  well  enough,  if  carried  out  in  its  true  spirit ; 
and  another  would  be  no  better  if  exposed  to  the 
same  process  of  construction,  or  rather  misconstruction. 
What  Lord  Clarendon  expects  from  a  new  treaty,  or 
what  either  party  is  to  demand,  or  concede,  I  am  at 
a  loss  to  conjecture.  What  we  want,  and  all  we  want, 
is  that  the  Central  American  States  should  be  let 
alone  to  manage  their  own  affairs,  in  their  own  way, 
leaving  to  the  civilized  Governments,  within  whose 
territories  they  live,  to  regulate  the  Mosquito  Indians 
as  they  may  think  proper,  agreeably  to  a  principle 
everywhere  recognized  and  adopted  since  the  discovery 
of  this  continent.  And  all  this  is  precisely  what  the 
Clayton -Bulwer  Treaty  would  effect,  if  fairly  interpreted 
and  fairly  executed ;  and  an  honest  compliance  with  its 
stipulation  presents,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  scheme  of 


JOHN    M,    CLAYTON. 


227 


adjustment  (in  which  we  can  have  any  agency)  by  which 
the  affairs  of  Central  America  —  Mosquito  included  — 
can  be  satisfactorily  and  permanently  settled.  And  I 
think  we  owe  it  to  our  honor  and  position  in  the  world 
to  say  so  to  England,  in  firm  but  temperate  language; 
and,  having  said  so,  to  act  accordingly,  be  the  conse 
quences  what  they  may."  The  American  view,  there 
fore  was  adopted  by  that  Senator,  unequivocally,  and 
the  value  of  the  treaty  to  us  fully  shown. 

In  view  of  these  remarks  of  General  Cass,  Mr. 
Clayton  was  fully  justified  in  the  speech  he  began  on 
the  day  after,  and  finished  on  the  i8th,  in  saying  at 
its  opening,  that  "  about  one  half  of  the  address  of 
the  Senator  was  of  the  harshest  and  most  exception 
able  character,  and  yet,  sir,  he  closed  with  a  position 
which  seemed  to  be  the  result  at  which  his  mind  had 
arrived,  aftef  fully  investigating  the  whole  main  ques 
tion,  which  was  perfectly  in  accordance  with  my  own 
•sentiments."  He  then  took  up  the  whole  subject  again, 
exposing  all  the  errors  that  the  opponents  of  the  treaty 
had  fallen  into,  and  satisfying  the  minds  of  all  fair 
men  that  the  convention  made  by  him  with  Sir  Henry 
Bulwer  was  all  that  was  desirable  for  us ;  while  the 
advantage  of  which  it  deprived  England  (if  in  fact  she 
justly  had  any  before)  had  been  taken  from  her,  not 
by  any  trick,  deception,  or  device  of  diplomacy,  but 
by  our  having  for  our  negotiator,  a  man  of  ample 
knowledge  of  the  subject  treated  about,  patriotic 
heart,  and  proper  sense  of  what  the  interests  and  wel 
fare  of  the  country  required.  Notwithstanding  General 


228  MEMOIR    OF 

Cass's  declaration  above  quoted,  the  debate  brought 
forth  again  all,  and  much  more,  than  had  been  before 
said  about  the  British  Honduras  possession,  and  what 
was  alleged  to  be  the  grand  error,  on  our  part,  with 
respect  to  it.  This  required  another  effort  on  Mr. 
Clayton's  part  to  compel  Senators  to  recognize  the 
wrong  they  did  in  persisting  in  the  assertion  that  he 
had  compromised  his  Government,  with  respect  to  that 
claim,  in  making  the  treaty  —  an  allegation  that,  by 
explanatory  letters  between  himself  and  Sir  Henry  Bul- 
wer  at  the  time  of  the  exchange  of  ratification  (4th 
of  July,  1850),  he  had  conceded  what  was  not  a  fact 
—  that  British  Honduras  was  no  part  of  Central 
America  —  and  that  the  Senate  was  in  ignorance  of 
this  circumstance  at  the  time  when  the  treaty  was 
approved.  The  old  charge  produced  in  the  attack  upon 
the  treaty  in  1853,  with  respect  to  the  '  declarations 
reported  by  General  Cass  to  have  been  made  to  him 
by  William  R.  King,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of- 
Foreign  Relations,  was  revived,  and  the  effect  seemed 
to  be  (if  I  am  justified  in  saying  so)  to  cover  the 
mortification  occasioned  by  withdrawal  of  hostility  to 
the  treaty,  by  imputing  dishonor  to  the  negotiator 
of  it.  But  this  failed  entirely ;  for  Mr.  Clayton  demon 
strated,  conclusively,  by  the  evidence  he  produced  and 
made  part  of  his  speech,  not  only  that  General  Cass 
had  erroneously  understood  Col.  King,  but  that  the  lat 
ter  had  avowed  that  he  had  never  made  any  such 
declarations  to  General  Cass  as  were  imputed  to  him. 
In  this  speech  Mr.  Clayton  reproduced  every  fact 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  22Q 

bearing  upon  the  British  claim;  and,  in  so  doing, 
showed  that  when  the  treaty  was  in  progress,  he  was 
master  of  the  whole  subject,  and  had  used  his  knowl 
edge  with  success.  Every  argument  set  up  by  the 
British  against  our  view  of  the  treaty  was  considered 
and  answered ;  and  so  exhaustive  was  the  effort,  that 
the  Senate  felt  that  nothing  more  could  be  urged  with 
respect  to  the  justness  of  the  construction  claimed  by 
him ;  and  when  he  had  closed,  ordered  the  subject  to  lie 
upon  the  table.  He  did  not  finish  his  speech,  how 
ever,  without  letting  his  adversary  feel  how  much  bet 
ter  he  could  have  served  his  country,  than  by  the 
course  he  had  taken. 

The  subject  of  the  Central  American  Treaty  was  not 
allowed  to  rest,  however.  The  British  still  persisted 
in  their  course  of  misunderstanding,  or  disrespect,  of 
that  compact.  Much  correspondence  had  taken  place 
between  our  Government  and  that  of  Great  Britain 
since  the  debate  just  mentioned ;  and,  among  other 
documents  presented  by  the  President  to  Congress  at 
its  opening  in  December,  1855,  was  a  letter  of  Lord 
John  Russell  respecting  the  construction  of  the  treaty. 
This  letter,  General  Cass  felt,  required  discussion ; 
which,  of  course,  involved  another  opening  of  the 
whole  subject.  The  letter  of  Russell  was,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  in  support  of  the  British  view  of 
the  treaty;  and,  coming  from  so  high  a  source,  not 
not  only  because  of  the  author's  distinguished  life, 
but  of  the  elevated  position  he  held  in  the  British 

councils,    it    was    proper    that    it    should     be    specially 

29 


2.,o  MEMOIR    OF 

noticed.  The  debate,  which  was  then  begun  by  Gen 
eral  Cass,  was  participated  in  by  other  distinguished 
Senators :  and,  to  the  credit  of  themselves  and  the 
exalted  rank  they  held  in  the  councils  of  the  coun 
try,  such  of  them  as  had  carped  at  the  treaty  before, 
and  notably  General  Cass,  came  forward  to  resist  the 
British  pretensions  —  having  discovered,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  upon  calmer  examination  of  its  features,  that 
there  was  nothing  uncertain  about  it ;  and  that,  if 
carried  out  in  good  faith  by  the  British,  it  would  se 
cure  Central  America  against  her  designs  in  future. 
It  was  shown  also  to  have  other  high  qualities.  In  a 
letter  of  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson  to  Mr.  Clayton,  dated  the 
3Oth  of  December,  1853,  an(^  which  General  Cass 
caused  to  be  read  at  the  close  of  a  strong  speech 
upon  the  general  subject,  there  occurs  this  language  : 
— "  This  treaty  is  the  first  instance  within  my  knowl 
edge  in  which  two  great  nations  of  the  earth  have 
thus  endeavored  to  combine  peacefully  for  the  prosecu 
tion  and  accomplishment  of  an  object  which,  when 
completed,  must  advance  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  all  men ;  and  it  would  be  a  matter  of  deep  regret 
if  the  philanthropic  and  noble  objects  of  the  negotia 
tors  should  now  be  defeated  by  petty  cavils  and 
special  pleading,  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic." 
The  object  of  using  the  letter  was  to  assist  the  argu 
ment  he  had  just  made ;  but  if  there  had  been  any 
thought  in  it  which  General  Cass  did  not  approve, 
he  was  too  careful  a  person  not  to  have  excepted  it 
from  his  general  approval  of  the  whole  document.  And, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


231 


as  if  to  bestow  upon  the  negotiation  the  highest 
praise,  he  declared  that  "the  Clayton- Bulwer  Treaty, 
if  carried  out  in  good  faith,  would  peaceably  do  the 
work  of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and  free  an  important  portion 
of  our  continent  from  foreign  interference."  He  said  that, 
perhaps,  one  motive  with  some  of  the  Senators  for 
supporting  the  treaty  was  that  it  would  so  operate.  This 
may,  however,  have  been  intended  as  an  explanation 
of  the  extraordinary  circumstance  that  he  had  been  for 
three  years  and  more  speaking  against  a  measure  for 
which  he  had  voted.  The  records  of  the  Senate,  at 
the  time,  show  that  the  vote  upon  the  treaty  was  42 
for  to  10  against,  and  that  Messrs.  Cass  and  Mason 
both  voted  for  it.  It  appears  that  Mr.  Douglas's  name 
somehow  got  among  the  yeas  also;  but  the  official 
statement  of  the  vote,  certified  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Senate,  and  transmitted  to  the  President,  accord 
ing  to  a  standing  order  of  the  Senate  for  like  cases, 
does  not  contain  his  name.  Mr.  Douglas  undertook  to 
explain  that  the  omission  of  his  name  was  an  error, 
and  that  he  called  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  it 
at  the  next  executive  session,  and  that  it  was  corrected. 
It  is  very  plain,  from  what  followed,  that  Mr.  Clayton 
thought  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  avoided  recording  his 
name  for  the  treaty  until  he  found,  by  the  result,  how 
strong  the  Senate  was  in  its  favor. 

On  the  i/th  and  igth  days  of  the  succeeding  March, 
Mr.  Clayton  (who  took  but  little  part  in  the  discussion 
in  January,  upon  the  Russell  letter,  preferring  to  enjoy 
the  precious  satisfaction  of  witnessing  the  triumph  of 


MEMOIR    OF 

his  first  arguments,  with  all  their  wealth  of  knowledge 
in  behalf  of  the  treaty)  addressed  himself,  in  a  set 
speech,  to  the  overthrow  of  the  British  assumptions. 
The  speech  was  calm,  deliberate,  and  convincing. 
The  subject  was  a  grave  one,  on  account  of  the  mag 
nitude  of  our  interests  involved  in  the  establishment 
of  the  pretences  set  up  by  England  ;  and  he  felt  him 
self  under  a  more  pressing  obligation  than  had  yet 
been  experienced  by  him,  to  make  the  case  so  plain 
as  to  end  all  dispute ;  and  he  did  it.  He  took  oc 
casion  to  point  out  that  one  of  the  difficulties  that 
had  arisen  about  British  Honduras  was  because  of  the 
appointment,  by  our  own  Government,  of  a  consul 
there.  But  here  is  his  own  language :  "  While  I  was 
at  the  head  of  the  State  Department,  I  discovered 
that  Mr.  Polk  had  applied,  through  Mr.  Bancroft,  to 
the  British  Colonial  office,  for  an  exequatur  for  Chris 
topher  Hempstead,  who  had  been  appointed  American 
consul  to  Belize;  and,  immediately  anticipating  the  very 
consequences  which  have  arisen  from  continuing  the 
consul  there,  I  withdrew  Mr.  Hempstead  and  abolished 
the  consulate.  Mr.  Webster  succeeded  me,  and 
he  reappointed  and  sent  Mr.  Hempstead  back  to  Bel 
ize,  and  renewed  the  consulate.  This  was,  no  doubt, 
very  gratifying  to  the  British  minister ;  but  the  effect 
of  it  has  been,  as  we  now  see,  to  supply  Great  Brit 
ain  with  a  reason  for  asserting  a  claim  which  she 
had,  on  so  many  previous  occasions,  solemnly  repudi 
ated."  It  should  be  explained  that  the  appointment 
of  a  consul  to  a  place  is  recognition  of  the  sover- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  233 

eignty  of  the  power  there,  of  whom  the  allowance  of 
such  consul,  to  perform  his  duties  at  such  place,  is 
requested ;  and  also  that  Great  Britain  had  over  and 
over  again  disavowed  sovereign  rights  at  the  Belize. 
While  it  may  not  be  of  any  great  importance,  now 
that  Great  Britain  has  abandoned  all  her  pretensions 
to  even  a  protectorate  in  Central  America  of  the  Mos 
quito  Indians  (except  so  far  as  the  dictates  of  mere 
humanity  or  charity  are  concerned  and  there  she  is 
upon  the  same  footing  as  ourselves),  that  the  merits 
of  this  controversy  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  should  be  fully  understood  by  us ;  yet 
it  will  be  found  profitable  to  read  the  whole  debates 
to  which  slight  notice  only  has  here  been  given  (the 
reports  of  them  being  accessible  to  all),  for  the  pur 
pose  of  learning  how  heroically  and  successfully  the 
subject  of  this  memoir  bore  himself  in  the  contest 
into  which  he  was  compelled  to  enter  by  the  sharp 
attacks  made  upon  his  work  by  his  so  able  assailants. 
The  reader  of  those  debates  will  not  fail  to  observe 
that  never,  until  he  had  satisfactorily  vindicated  Tay 
lor's  Administration  and  his  own  reputation  from  the 
stain  of  having  compromised  the  interests  of  the  coun 
try,  did  Clayton  receive  assistance  from  any  human 
lips  —  and  the  newspapers,  with  a  few  conspicuous 
exceptions,  lent  him  no  encouragement  in  his  defence, 
he  having  offended  them  mortally  by  refusing  to  have 
an  organ,  or  confidants  in  the  way  of  correspondents, 
for  the  Taylor  Administration.  The  complete  success 
that  crowned  his  defence,  was  owing  to  two  advan- 


2-y A  MEMOIR    OF 

cages :  ist,  his  perfect  knowledge  of  the  whole  history 
of  Central  America,  and  of  the  English  movements 
there ;  and,  2d,  that  consummate  skill  in  attack  and 
defence  —  the  test  of  a  fine  debater  —  which  had  char 
acterized  his  whole  legal,  political,  and  Senatorial 
career.  Discussion,  debate,  were  his  forte.  Though 
gifted  with  a  fine  imagination,  and  a  power  of  expres 
sion  of  things  eloquent  which  is  shown  here  and 
there  through  all  his  studied  address,  yet  his  aim 
seemed  ever  to  be  to  convince  by  reason  and  argu 
ment,  rather  than  charm  by  display  or  rhetoric.  The 
speeches  made  on  the  Central  American  question, 
show  the  most  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  topic 
in  all  its  aspects,  and  a  skill  and  dexterity,  as  well 
as  fine  logic,  of  debate,  nowhere  surpassed  in  our 
forensic  records.  On  all  sides  it  was  admitted  that 
when  the  long  and  fierce  battle  was  ended,  he  was  not 
only  master  of  the  field,  but  had  discomfited  the  foes 
of  the  treaty  everywhere. 


PRESIDENT  PIERCE'S  VETO  OF  THE  BILL 
GIVING  PUBLIC  LANDS  FOR  THE  INDI 
GENT  INSANE — CALLED  Miss  Dix's 
BILL. 

Miss  Dix,  an  educated  and  refined,  and  also 
philanthropic  lady,  had,  among  the  other  noble 
thoughts  which  she  had  given  to  the  world  in  behalf 
of  the  unfortunates  of  the  human  family,  expressed  her- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


235 


self  as  desirous  that  Congress  should  make  a  grant 
of  the  public  domain  to  the  several  States  for  the 
benefit,  in  such  form  as  they  respectively  might  choose 
to  adopt,  of  the  indigent  insane ;  and  sympathetic 
people  everywhere  had  responded  to  the  appeal,  thus 
made,  to  the  nation,  for  relief  to  that  unfortunate 
class.  A  bill,  to  carry  out  her  beneficent  proposition, 
was  introduced,  into  Congress,  and  passed  both  Houses. 
It  was  sent  to  the  President  for  his  approval ;  and 
returned  with  a  veto,  which,  alas,  could  not  be  over 
come  by  votes.  But  it  could  be  discussed,  and  Clay 
ton  did  it,  exhaustively,  answering  the  objections  that 
were  made  to  the  bill  by  the  supporters  of  the  veto, 
and  giving  another  exhibition  of  his  splendid  powers 
as  an  advocate.  His  speech  breathes  the  warmest 
sympathy  for  stricken  humanity.  At  the  close  of  his 
long  argument  against  the  veto,  he  uttered  the  fol 
lowing  touching  expressions,  which  never  could  have 
come  from  any  one  not  having  a  tender,  feeling  heart 
for  humanity : 

"  According  to  the  information  we  derive  from 
institutions  like  those  which  this  bill  proposes  to 
establish,  such  as  have  been  established  in  Massachu 
setts  and  England,  where  experts  and  physicians  have 
been  taught  to  instruct  the  insane,  and  train  the 
remnant  of  mind  that  is  left,  you  find  that  at  least 
two  thirds  of  these  miserable  beings  might  be  restored 
to  society,  and  become  useful  members  of  it.  But 
how  ?  Not  by  confining  them,  as  they  are  now  con 
fined,  in  almshouses,  where  there  is  no  knowledge  of 


236 


MEMOIR    OF 


the  art  of  reclaiming  them ;  not  by  sending  them  to 
jails  and  prisons,  where 

'  Moody  madness   laughs   and   hugs  the  chain   it  clanks,' 

nor  by'  relying  on  private  charity.  Individuals  cannot 
build  lunatic  and  insane  asylums  in  the  United  States. 
But,  if  what  those  persons  who  are  accustomed  to 
investigate  the  subject  tell  us,  be  true,  more  than 
twenty  thousand  of  the  American  people  now  insane, 
might  be  restored  to  reason  and  become  useful  mem 
bers  of  society;  and  you  tell  me  you  have  no  power 
to  do  it!  Suppose  at  this  moment  more  than  twenty 
thousand  of  the  American  people  were  floating  in 
ships  like  the  ill  -  fated  San  Francisco,  in  storm  and 
shipwreck,  would  you  not  seek  immediate  relief  for 
them  ?  Would  you  hesitate  to  send  out  your  ships 
for  them,  and  expend  millions  to  save  them  ?  Sup 
pose  they  were  given  in  captivity  to  a  foreign  power, 
they  and  their  utmost  hopes,  would  not  a  hundred 
thousand  swords  leap  from  their  scabbards  to  redeem 
them  from  that  captivity  ?  Sir,  they  are  in  an  infinitely 
worse  state  of  captivity  and  suffering,  than  if  they 
were  bondmen  to  the  Turk,  or  if  they  were  suffering 
the  distresses  of  shipwreck  upon  the  ocean.  It  is  not 
possible  to  conceive  of  a  greater  depth  of  human 
misery  than  that  which  results  from  the  loss  of  reason. 
In  them  you  see  the  human  form 

— '  Erect,  divine  ! 

This  heaven-assumed,   majestic  robe  of  earth 
He  deigned  to  wear  who  hung  its   vast  expanse 
With  azure  bright,  and  clothed  the  sun   with  gold :' 

but,  sir,  although  the  form  is  there,  though  indeed 
the  casket  remains,  yet  the  jewel  is  gone,  the  intellect 
has  vanished ;  or,  if  reason  still  linger  on  her  throne, 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  237 

she   sits   trembling   and    distracted    upon  it.      Still,  there 
is   the    image    of    Him    who    made    man    and    died    to 
save    him.      And   are    we    men,    have  we  not  abandoned 
all    that   belongs    to    our   common    manhood,    if   we    do 
not   feel    for   these  miserable   beings  ?      Shall    we    strain 
,a   point   of  the    Constitution   against   them  ?     They   can 
not   argue    in   their   own    behalf.      If  we    do   not  protect 
and    defend   them,   they   have    no    defenders.      If  we  are 
not   their   guardians   and   advocates,  they  can    find  none. 
Sir,    I    am    exhausted,   but    I    have    not    exhausted    the 
argument,    and    am    not    capable    of    doing    it.       I    must 
leave    it   to   other   and    abler    men    who    will    follow    me 
in    the    debate;    but    if  I    had   strength,    I    would    stand 
here    and   plead    for   these    indigent   insane    so    long    as 
a   Senator    would   hear   me.      I    cannot   but  think,  when 
about   to    take    leave    of  the    subject,    of  that   day   when 
we    must    appear    before    the    great    Judge    of    all    the 
earth,    and   the   accusation    may    be   against    us    that   we 
did     not    visit    those    who    were    sick    and    in    prison ; 
and,   oh,    when    we    have   answered    that,    may   none    of 
us    receive   the   awful    denunciation,    "  Inasmuch    as     ye 
did    it   not   to  one   of  the    least    of  these,   ye    did  it  not 
to   me." 


THE  KANSAS  -  NEBRASKA  DEBATE. 

• 

With  respect  to  what  may  be  said,  in  this  narrative, 
about  the  subject  which  gave  rise  to  the  Kansas - 
Nebraska  debate,  and  the  part  taken  by  others  than 
Clayton,  and  by  him,  also,  in  the  heated  discussions  of 
the  questions  raised,  I  ask  that  no  one  will  suppose 
that  I  have  the  slightest  desire  to  reflect  upon  any 
who  participated  in  the  discussion,  or  to  question  their 


MEMOIR   OF 

motives.  If  I  were  writing  with  a  view  of  contrasting 
the  patriotism  and  unpartisanship  which  governed  Clay 
ton's  whole  action  as  a  Senator  with  that  of  some  of 
the  most  prominent  of  his  brother  Senators,  I  might 
select  instances,  and  a  notable  one  in  this  memorable 
event,  when  I  thought  they  had  yielded  to  the  sup 
posed  behests  of  mere  party,  while  hf  had  never  done 
so.  If  this  were  a  life  of  Clayton  written  at  my  own 
prompting,  and  for  my  own  use  alone,  and  were  not 
a  narrative  for  this  Society,  free  from  all  attachments, 
prejudices,  or  biases  for  men  as  well  as  measures,  as 
it  is  known  to  be,  such  a  course  would  be  not  repre 
hensible ;  but  it  would  be  unwarrantable  for  me  to 
follow  it,  now,  if  I  had  the  inclination  to  do  so.  I 
shall  therefore  speak  of  the  actors  in  this  discussion 
about  the  Kansas  -  Nebraska  measure,  and  the  measure 
itself,  as  I  think  this  Society  will  not  disapprove. 

Before  our  life  as  colonies  of  Great  Britain  and  a 
confederacy  of  independent  States  had  ended,  and  be 
fore  our  efforts  toward  the  majesty  of  nationality  had, 
by  means  of  the  Constitution  of  1787,  been  crowned 
with  complete  success,  the  subject  of  the  rightfulness 
of  slavery  had  engaged  the  attention  of  important  men 
throughout  the  country.  Although  slavery  —  that  is  the 
subjection  of  one  man,  with  all  his  powers  of  body  and 
of  mind  (so  far  as  the  exercise  of  will  is  concerned)  to 
another  —  had  always  existed,  as  shown  by  the  evidence 
of  all  antiquity  in  sacred  and  profane  history,  yet 
there  was  still  a  feeling  inspired  by  the  teachings  ot 
our  Savior,  that  was  considered  hostile  to  its  continu- 


JOHN    M,    CLAYTON.  239 

ance.  The  injunction,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself,  was  felt  to  pertain  as  well  to  the  lowest 
as  to  the  highest ;  and  how,  if  you  held  them  sub 
ject  to  your  will,  that  of  mere  man,  with  all  his  pas 
sions  and  impulses,  could  you  obey  that  law?  To  the 
minds  of  those  who  asked  this  question,  slavery  was 
a  great  sin,  to  be  extirpated,  sooner  or  later.  They 
would  have  insisted,  no  doubt,  upon  a  provision  in 
the  Constitution  for  that  purpose;  but,  knowing  that 
the  interests  of  the  major  portion  of  her  colonies  for 
bade  it,  they  were  fain  to  consent,  indirectly,  to  the 
continuance  of  the  African  slave  trade  until  the  year 
1808.  Very  many,  now,  of  those  representing  anti- 
slavery  sentiment,  would  feel  disposed  to  condemn,  and 
would  reprove,  the  course  of  those  who  consented  to 
that  provision ;  but  such  have  not  been  subjected  to 
the  strain  of  doing  the  best  they  can  to  attain  nation 
ality,  with  a  doubtful  chance  o?  maintaining  it,  and 
therefore  do  not  know  what  trials  they  might  have 
had  to  meet.  The  achievement  of  freedom  from  British 
control ;  the  further  gain  of  local  individuality;  which 
means  the  right,  within  defined  limits,  of  a  people  to 
conduct  their  public  local  affairs  in  their  own  way  ;  were 
the  controlling  motives  of  the  men  who  held  these  senti 
ments  with  respect  to  slavery.  And  let  none  condemn 
their  apparent  consent  to  what  they  thought  a  wrong. 
Are  any  so  courageous  morally,  that  they  never  submit 
to  what  they  cannot  approve,  in  order  to  attain  an 
end  which,  when  reached,  may  enable  them  to  re 
trieve  their  apparently  lost  virtue  ?  If  there  be  such, 


240 


MEMOIR    OF 


let  them  condemn,  as  they  may  think  proper  to  do, 
the  grand  old  patriots  of  '76.  Freedom  from  the  ar 
bitrary  and  wholly  unjustifiable  tyranny  of  Great  Brit 
ain  ;  the  ability  to  exercise  the  right  of  independent 
government;  the  immunity  from  all  the  exactions  upon 
and  repressions  of  colonial  life,  weak  though  such  life 
was,  impelled  the  men  of  '87  to  submit  to  anything 
here,  to  be  freed  from  government  elsewhere.  Imagine 
yourself  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy  from  whom  there 
is  the  most  pressing  necessity  to  be  freed  ;  would  you 
not  submit  to  some  present  suffering  to  be  released 
from  all  afterwards !  Certainly  you  would ;  then  con 
template  the  oppressions  of  the  colonists  by  the  moth 
er  country,  and  say  whether  to  form  an  alliance  that 
would  forever  protect  you  against  them,  or  danger  from 
any  foreign  quarter,  you  could  not  consent  to  the 
continuance  of  some  things  you  might  feel  to  be  wrong. 
And  then,  suppose  tHfe  wrong  against  which  your  spirit 
rebelled,  though  not  wrought  by  your  own  act,  had 
yet  been  created  or  shared  in  by  your  ancestry,  would 
you  have  hesitated  between  risk  to  your  political  free 
dom  and  consent  to  this  ancestral  wrong  for  a  few 
years  more  ?  I  do  not  think  you  would.  You  would 
have  done  precisely  what  your  predecessors  did  —  sub 
mitted  temporarily  to  what  you  thought  an  evil,  to  ac 
complish  what  you  believed  would  prove  to  be  a 
benefit  outweighing  all  others  —  the  right  to  choose 
the  agents  of  your  own  will,  and  discharge  them  at 
pleasure  ;  in  other  words  —  the  right  of  self-government, 
to  choose  the  executors  of  your  own  laws  and  dis- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  241 

miss  them  at  will.  Moralists  have  ever  deemed  that 
a  stigma  rested  upon  the  people  whose  consciences 
were  against  slavery,  and  who,  yet,  consented  to  the 
repletion  of  its  ranks  by  the  clause  allowing  the  im 
portation  of  slaves  until  1808;  but  their  condemna 
tion  has  been  against  the  instincts  of  humanity  which 
prompt  to  submission  to  almost  anything  to  attain  a 
great  end,  especially  where  such  attainment  will  en 
able  those  who  yield,  to  be  in  a  situation  to  do  the 
proper  penance  at  the  proper  time.  There  is  nothing 
easier  than  to  criticise  the  acts  of  men,  however 
placed;  for  there  are.  none  of  them,  hardly,  that  will 
bear  the  test  of  examination  by  a  casuist.  Humanum 
est  errare,  is  a  maxim  approved  by  the  universal  ex 
perience  of  mankind.  We  are  all  liable  to  make  mis 
takes  ;  and  we  should  be  charitable  towards  those 
whom  we  think  guilty  of  them.  Besides,  the  anti  - 
slavery  patriots  may  have  looked  back  into  the  reve 
lations  of  history,  and  found  that  the  relation  of 
master  and  slave,  in  some  form,  had  always  existed, 
and  treated  the  subject  as  chiefly  one  of  interest,  as 
their  ancestors  had  unquestionably  done.  Let  us  not, 
therefore,  cast  the  stone  of  reproach  at  those  who 
consented  to  that  part  of  the  9th  section  of  Article  I  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  authorizes 
importation  of  slaves  into  the  country  up  to  the  year 
1808.  No  doubt,  it  would  have  been  a  fine  thing  to 
have  stood  upon  the  high  ground  of  conscience,  and, 
in  defence  of  sentiment,  held  out  against  the  temporal 
blessings  of  national  autonomy,  with  local  indepen- 


MEMOIR    OF 

deiicy ;  and  those  who  had  done  it,  and  sacrificed  so 
great  a  blessing  upon  the  altar  of  principle,  would 
have  been  held  up  to  the  view  of  posterity  as  persons 
worthy  of  the  best  homage  of  the  heroic  days ;  but 
the  prophets  of  the  future  would  then  have  regarded 
them,  as  with  our  experience  we  should  now,  as  men 
wanting  in  a  proper  estimate  of  the  ultimate  benefit  of 
submission.  While  none  should  by  any  means  consent 
to  the  doing  of  evil  that  good  may  come  of  it,  yet 
one  may  submit  long  to  a  sense  of  wrong  in  order 
to  avail  himself  at  the  favorable  time  of  the  advan 
tage  such  submission  may  ultimately  give  to  right 
himself.  It  is  in  a  sense,  wrong,  to  submit  to  laws 
that  we  feel  to  be  harsh  and  unjust;  and  yet  the 
most  exemplary  of  all  our  religious  sects,  regarding 
the  whole  of  them  in  a  moral  point  of  view  only, 
do  it,  and  without  any  wounding  of  their  conscience 
—  recognizing  that  the  benefit  of  quiet,  orderly  so 
ciety,  though  tainted  with  some  bad  rules  of  govern 
ment,  outweighs  the  evil  of  such  taint  —  and  resting 
also  upon  the  faith,  which  has  ever  distinguished  them, 
that,  sooner  or  later,  all  the  wrongs  of  humanity  will 
be  righted.  "  Time,  at  last,  makes  all  things  even," 
thou'gh  an  expression  of  a  profane  poet,  has  neverthe 
less  a  truth  within  it  which  they  all  recognize. 

Nor,  in  considering  this  subject,  should  we  harshly 
condemn  those  who  insisted  upon  that  particular  clause 
in  the  Constitution.  All  their  interests  seemed  to  be 
bound  up  in  the  slavery  system.  The  wrong,  if  wrong 
there  were  in  it,  was  not  of  their  creation,  and  appeared 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON  343 

to  them  to  be  a  means  of  their  own  prosperity.  The 
relation  between  their  bondmen  and  themselves  was,  as 
they  viewed  the  matter,  a  close  model  of  that  of  the 
patriarchal  days,  and  at  least  quite  as  beneficent  as  that 
was  to  the  slave.  In  his  native  wilds,  the  African  was 
a  mere  savage,  the  subject  of  chiefs  who  knew  no  law 
but  their  own  will,  and  that  will  controlling  life  and 
death  ;  without  any  sort  of  knowledge  but  the  most 
obvious  that  mere  nature  could  teach ;  with  feeble  in 
stincts,  even  of  kindred,  and  none  of  the  moral  rela 
tions  between  the  sexes ;  and,  what  was  infinitely 
worse,  with  no  idea  of  a  Creator  and  Preserver,  but 
only  of  a  wicked  spirit  whose  malevolent  deeds  could 
alone  be  escaped  by  sacrifices  of  human  victims  upon 
bloody  altars  of  propitiation.  It  did  not  seem  to  those 
people  that  there  could  be  any  great  wrong  in  a  tem 
poral  bondage  which  was  in  fact  a  rescue  of  the  soul 
from  a  state  of  ignorance,  degradation,  and  moral  un- 
enlightenment  that  precluded  all  hope  of  elevation  of 
the  base  man  above  the  rank  of  the  mere  animals 
that  surrounded  him.  In  fact,  it  seemed  a  blessing  to 
the  savage,  as  „  undoubtedly,  through  the  providence  of 
the  Almighty,  it  has  proved  to  be  —  he  being  now  a 
civilized  man,  with  ideas  of  his  responsibility  tq  his 
Creator,  and  his  relations  to  society,  infinitely  beyond 
\hose  of  his  race  anywhere  on  his  native  continent. 

Nothing  occurred  to  disturb  the  quiet  that  existed 
upon  the  subject  .  of  slavery  until  thirty  years  after 
the  Constitution  was  made;  the  ordinance  of  1787 
prohibiting  slavery  in  all  the  territory  north-west  of 


MEMOIR   OF 

the  Ohio,  by  almost  unanimous  consent  —  that  of  the 
South  being  given  because  of  the  inadaptation  of  the 
region  to  the  employment  of  slave  labor.  In  1820, 
however,  there  arose  a  controversy  which  was  the  first 
step  towards  disregard  of  the  solemn  warning  of  the 
Farewell  Address  of  Washington,  against  the  formation 
of  parties  on  geographical  distinctions  —  a  warning 
which,  if  heeded,  would  have  effectually  prevented  our 
late  civil  war,  the  evil  consequences  of  which,  as  a 
strife  between  man  and  man  to  the  shedding  of  blood, 
we  are  still  realizing.  That  part  of  the  territory  we 
had  acquired  with  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  from 
France,  in  1803,  which  now  forms  the  State  of  Mis 
souri,  was  in  a  condition  to  be  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  State,  in  the  year  1817,  and  application* 
was  then  made  for  that  purpose,  to  Congress.  There 
was,  at  this  time,  a  population  of  60,000  people  there, 
and  St.  Louis  was  a  place  of  5000  inhabitants.  There 
was  no  objection,  therefore,  on  the  score  of  numbers  ; 
but  the  people  hostile  to  slavery  determined  to  pre 
vent,  if  they  could,  the  Territory  from  coming  in  to 
the  national  family  as  a  slave  State.  .Like  all  persons 
of  conscientious  convictions,  they  made  a  strong  effort 
to  prevent  what  they  deemed  a  wrong,  which  was 
met  by  determined  opposition  on  the  other  side ;  and 
then  commenced  that  great  struggle,  which  never  ended 
until  slavery  was  abolished,  to  prevent  its  extension 
into  new  States  to  be  carved  out  of  the  public  do 
main.  In  this  contest,  the  question  was  disposed  of 
by  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State,  but 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  345 

with  the  establishment  of  a  line  to  the  north  of  which 
it  was  determined  that  no  States  should  come  into 
the  Union  as  slave  States  —  which  line  was  the  parallel 
of  latitude  of  36°  30',  called  afterwards  the  Missouri 
Compromise  Line.  This  digression  is  a  necessary  intro 
duction  to  what  is  now  about  to  be  considered. 

At  the  session  of  Congress  of  1854,  the  Committee 
on  Territories  in  the  Senate  reported  a  bill  for  the 
establishment  of  Territorial  Governments  in  Nebraska 
and  Kansas  —  the  whole  region  of  both  of  which  un 
formed  masses  lay  north  of  the  compromise  line,  —  in 
fact,  above  the  parallel  of  thirty-seven  degrees.  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  was,  at  that  time,  the  chairman  of  that 
committee ;  its  other  members  being  as  follows :  Samuel 
*Houston  .of  Texas,  Robert  W.  Johnson  of  Arkansas, 
John  Bell  of  Tennessee,  George  W.  Jones  of  Iowa, 
and  Edward  Everett  of  Massachusetts.  That  bill,  to 
the  amazement  and  alarm  of  the  masses  of  the  people, 
while  providing  the  usual  machinery  and  stipulations 
with  respect  to  a  Territorial  Government,  went  much 
farther,  and  proposed  to  concede  to  the  inhabitants  the 
right,  as  it  wa%  termed,  to  regulate  their  own  domestic 
institutions  in  their  own  way  —  that  is,  to  have  slavery 
there  or  not,  as  the  people  there  chose.  This  was 
at  once  seen  to  be  a  means  of  repealing,  indirectly, 
the  compromise  arrangement  of  1820,  and  produced  a 
degree  of  inflammation  in  the  public  breast  which  had 
never  been  felt  before.  The  opponents  of  the  measure 
felt  themselves  justified  in  uniting  with  the  enemies  of 

the   chairman    of  the   Territorial  Committee,  in  charging 

31 


246 


MEMOIR    OF 


the  paternity  of  the  measure  to  him,  and  he  was  not 
unwilling  to  be  deemed  its  author.  The  reason  they 
gave  was,  that  he  was  endeavoring  to  render  himself 
serviceable  to  the  slave-holding  interest,  and  thus,  with 
the  aid  of  such  strength  as  would  still  adhere  to  him 
in  the  North,  secure  the  prize  of  the  Presidency  —  for 
which  he  had  been  longing  for  some  time  past.  He 
and  his  friends  defended  him  and  his  offspring  upon 
the  ground  that  the  Missouri  arrangement  was  unfair 
to  the  slave-holding  interest,  that  it  was  unrepublican, 
in  undertaking  to  restrain  a  part  of  the  people  in  the 
regulation  of  their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way,  that 
the  line  itself  was  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  the  Farewell 
Address,  in  that  it  recognized  sectionality,  and  further 
that  Congress  had,  by  it,  undertaken  to  prohibit 
slave-holders  from  occupying,  with  their  property,  the 
common  territory,  which  could  not,  they  said,  be  done 
constitutionally,  and  which,  if  submitted  to,  would  be 
a  practical  deprivation  of  interest  as  to  them,  their 
means  of  prosperity  being  slave  labor.  To  all  which 
it  was  replied  that,  whether  constitutional  or  not,  the 
line  was  a  compromise  of  principle  on  the  part  of 
the  North,  was  accepted  and  treated  as  such  by  the 
South,  had  remained  as  a  covenant  for  near  thirty- 
five  years,  and  had  thus  all  the  force  of  a  fundamental 
provision ;  that  the  people  of  the  North  hostile  to 
slavery  as  an  alleged  moral  wrong,  would  view  the 
measure  in  the  light  of  a  determination  to  subject  all 
the  unorganized  territory  to  the  influence  of  Southern 
interests ;  and  that  Southern  people  were  as  free  to 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


247 


settle  the  Territories  as  those  of  the  North  were,  and 
that  when  those  Territories  were  admitted  as  States, 
they  would  be  upon  the  same  footing  as  other  States, 
having  power  at  any  time  to  establish  slavery  if  they 
chose.  But  these  replies  had  no  effect  with  those 
who  supported  the  scheme. 

On  the  1st  and  2d  of  March,  of  1854,  Mr.  Clay 
ton  addressed  the  Senate  upon  the  bill  reported  by 
the  committee,  and|in  pursuance  of  the  method  he  al 
ways  pursued  in  treating  public  questions,  went  into 
the  subject  thoroughly.  In  his  very  lengthened  and 
able  argument,  he  treated  the  question  presented  by 
the  bill  with  that  breadth  of  view  and  minuteness 

also   of    detail    of    feature,    which    characterized    all    his 

% 

Senatorial  arguments.  He  discussed  also  the  policy  of 
the  prior  Administration  with  respect  to  the  Territories, 
showing  that  it  was  the  correct  view  to  take  of  their 
relation  to  the  States,  and  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  should  be  a  matter  of  their  own  selection  or 
rejection,  after  they  had  been  allowed  by  Congress  ad 
mission  into  the  Union  as  States.  He  further  discussed 
the  subject  of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  took  the 
ground  (which,  no  doubt  was  correct)  that  Congress 
had  no  power  to  decree  any  portion  of  the  public 
domain  to  be  perpetually  free,  or  subject  to  slavery ; 
and  assigned  the  all  -  sufficient  reason  that  a  State 
could  at  any  time,  in  the  exercise  of  her  sovereignty, 
establish  slavery,  if  her  people  so  wished.  He  fortified 
himself  in  his  position  about  the  Missouri  compromise 
with  the  argument  of  Nicholas  Vandyke  in  the  Senate 


248 


MEMOIR    OF 


and  Louis  McLane  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
during  the  debate  of  1820.  He  thoroughly  exposed 
the  scheme  at  the  bottom  of  the  bill  reported  by  the 
committee,  and  brought  the  measure  itself  into  just 
ridicule  by  disclosing  the  fact  that  there  was  not  a 
single  white  man  lawfully  in  the  region  except  the 
licensed  traders  with  the  Indians.  He  took  the  oppor 
tunity  presented  »by  the  bill  to  renew  his  objection  to 
the  acquisition  of  territory,  speaking  as  follows  with 
respect  to  the  subject,  the  Union,  and  his  own  course 
at  the  close  of  his  argument: 

"  Mr.  President,  several  Senators  who  have  partici 
pated  in  this  discussion,  have  said,  that  they  desire 
still  further  acquisitions  and  annexation  of  territory. 
I  know  very  well  the  strength  of  that  sentiment  .in 
the  country.  As  these  opinions  have  been  advanced 
in  debate,  I  beg  leave,  with  all  deference  to  those 
who  have  expressed  them,  to  announce  my  dissent 
from  them.  I  desire  the  acquisition  of  no  more  ter 
ritory,  to  be  formed  into  States.  We  have  now,  I  be 
lieve,  twelve  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  land  unsur- 
veyed  —  enough,  besides  the  vast  amount  of  surveys, 
to  give  an  acre  and  a  half  to  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Why,  then,  should 
we  be  anxious  for  further  acquisitions  ?  If  our  mani 
fest  destiny  drives  us  on,  so  that  we  cannot  resist  it 
—  if  we  must,  inevitably,  acquire  more  territory,  if  re 
straint  be  impossible,  as  some  assert,  —  though  I  have 
always  entertained  the  opinion,  that  the  possession  of 
provinces  to  be  ruled  by  Governors  ought  to  be  no 
part  of  our  policy  —  yet,  as  a  choice  of  evils,  I  would 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON. 

infinitely  prefer  that  the  new  acquisitions  should  be 
held  as  colonies,  or  provinces,  and  not  as  States.  In 
colonies  we  rule ;  in  States  they  may  rule  us,  or 
elect  our  rulers,  without  regard  to  our  interests,"  or 
wishes.  I  know  very  well  that  many  gentlemen  ex 
press  the  opinion  that  the  acquisition  of  more  States 
to  the  Confederation  gives  new  strength  to  it.  On  the 
contrary,  I  do  most  sincerely  believe  that  if  this  Union 
is  destined  to  be  wrecked,  its  ruin  .will  be  accom 
plished  by  means  of  this  constant  tendency  to  expan 
sion.  By  continually  increasing  the  number  of  States 
of  the  Union,  you  multiply  the  chances  of  resistance 
to  the  laws  of  the  general  Government. 

"  Sir,  we  know  well  that  the  States  of  this  Union 
are  not  retained  within  their  spheres  by  physical 
force.  It  is  impossible  that  they  can  be  so  retained. 
No  chains  can  bind  them  ;  no  ligaments  but  the  silken 
cords  of  affection  can  hold  them  together ;  but  those 
cords  will  lose  their  strength,  whenever  the  people  of 
the  United  States  shall  cease  to  be  homogeneous. 
The  interests,  •  feelings,  and  sympathies  of  different 
races,  will,  necessarily,  become  different.  I  deplore 
the  existence  in  the  country,  of  a  sentiment,  which 
seems  to  be  spreading,  for  the  extension  of  our  Con 
federation  to  those  who,  as  they  have  ever  proved 
incapable  of  governing  themselves,  can  never  prove 
capable  of  aiding  to  govern  us.  As  an  American,  I 
am  anxious  for  the  aggrandizement  and  honor  of  my 
country ;  but,  sir,  if  the  day  should  ever  come  when 
we  shall  annex  Mexico,  as  is  desired  by  others,  I  see 
no  hope  for  the  Republic ;  when  that  era  arrives,  its 
history  will  soon  be  closed.  We  have  territory 
enough  now  to  form  one  hundred  States.  In  sixty 
years  you  will  have  one  hundred  millions  of  people, 


2c0  MEMOIR    OF 

according  to  the  ratio  which  has  hitherto  governed 
our  progress.  One  hundred  years  hence,  you  will 
have  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  Let  them,  then, 
rule "  themselves  wisely  and  well,  and  they  will  have 
accomplished  more  than  even  the  most  sanguine  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Republic  anticipated. 

"  I  said,  sir,  that  you  could  control  the  people  of 
the  States  of  this  Union  only  by  their  affections.  Not 
many  years  have  elapsed  since  we  were  threatened 
with  a  conflict  between  'the  general  Government  and 
a  State  —  there  was  no  actual  collision,  there  was  no 
direct  application  of  force  on  the  one  side  against 
force  on  the  other ;  but  South  Carolina  and  the 
United  States  could  hear  each  other's  drums  beat ; 
and  the  moment  before  that  great  measure  of  peace, 
the  compromise  of  1833,  we  were  daily  in  peril  of 
an  encounter  between  the  citizens  of  a  State  and  the 
troops  of  this  Government.  If,  sir,  blood  had  been 
shed,  who  can  tell  what  would  have  been  the  result  ? 

"  In  my  judgment,  there  was  more  danger  of  dis 
union  then  than  has  ever  existed  since.  Suppose  that 
a  State,  such  as  Pennsylvania,  should  resolve  to  resist 
the  laws  of  the  Union  ;  could  you  retain  her  in  the 
Union  by  force  ?  Does  any  man  imagine  it  ?  The 
first  collision  between  her  and  the  troops  of  this  Gov 
ernment,  would  enlist  the  sympathies  of  her  sister 
States  around  her ;  and  a  dissolution  would  be  inevi 
table.  Seeing  that  these  things  are  so,  does  it  not 
occur  to  you,  as  it  does  to  me,  that  there  is  danger 
from  this  constant  annexation  of  States  ?  The  inhabi 
tants  of  new  Territories  are  not  like  the  men  who 
formed  the  old  thirteen  colonies,  who  concurred  in  all 
the  principles  of  civil  government  which  had  been 
taught  them  before  they  formed  their  Confederation. 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


251 


Yet,  reckless  of  all  such  considerations,  we  are  every 
year  aiming  at  the  extension  of  our  territory,  and  the 
statesmen  of  the  nation,  pandering  to  the  passion  of 
the  multitude  for  more  land,  forgetting  the  blessings 
which  we  now  enjoy,  and  which  are  endangered  by 
this  insane  delusion,  lead  the  popular  impulse  in  con 
tempt  of  all  the  lessons  of  history,  and  all  the  ad 
monitions  of  experience. 

"  I  will  now  take  leave  of  this  discussion,  with  the 
expression  of  my  regret  that  -on  some  of  the  topics 
.embraced  in  it,  I  have  found  my  own  sentiments  at 
variance  with  those  of  many  of  my  most  valued  per 
sonal  friends.  Had  I  been  willing  to  conceal  my 
opinions  to  escape  the  censure  of  others,  I  might 
have  easily  given  my  vote  against  the  bill,  without 
disclosing  my  views  of  the  Missouri  compromise.  But 
I  have  preferred  a  frank  avowal  of  my  convictions,  as 
alike  due  to  the  country,  to  the  Senate,  and  to  my 
own  self-respect.  I  am  not  the  man  to  shun  any 
responsibility  which  justly  attaches  to  my  position ; 
and  I  choose  to  meet  it  firmly,  but  not  offensively, 
having  learned  through  a  long  public  life,  that  Truth, 
the  daughter  of  Time,  will  at  last  vindicate  against  all 
misconstruction  and  injurious  clamor,  that  man  who, 
in  the  public  service,  disregards  all  personal  conse 
quences,  and  discards  all  considerations  tending  to 
overrule  his  own  just  sense  of  duty." 

We  all  know,  to  our  sorrow,  how  the  country 
was  excited  over  this  measure  —  the  anti- slavery  men 
viewing  it  as  a  scheme  of  enslavement  of  free  terri 
tory,  and  the  slave-holders  and  their  friends,  as  but 
a  measure  of  justice  to  them,  which  the  former  de- 


2e2  MEMOIR    OF 

sired  still  to  withhold,  and  the  politicians  of  both 
sides  fanning  the  flames  of  discord,  created  by  the 
introduction  of  the  measure,  until  the  whole  country 
may  be  said  to  have  been  in  a  blaze  of  excitement. 
The  measure  was  passed,  but  the  scheme  of  creating 
more  slave  States  was  effectually  baffled  by  the  emi 
gration  from  the  free  States,  of  persons  to  become 
settlers ;  and  so  great  was  the  flow  of  the  tide,  that 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  States  to  arise  from 
the  Territories  would  be  secured  to  freedom.  I  forbear 
to  go  further  with  this  subject ;  and  it  '  is  beside 
the  purpose  of  this  memoir  to  do  so.  It  is  a  view 
of  the  history  of  the  private  and  public  life  of  John 
M.  Clayton,  that  is  to  be  presented,  and  not  a  re 
view  of  political  parties. 

TACKING  MEASURES  TO  APPROPRIATION 
BILLS. 

When  the  civil  and  diplomatic  'appropriation  bill 
was  sent  to  the  Senate  at  the  close  of  the  session  of 
1854-5,  it  contained  four  sections  which  the  House 
had  inserted,  revising  the  tariff.  Mr.  Clayton  moved 
to  strike  out  these  sections;  and  said  it  was  the  first 
time,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  legislative  experience, 
that  an  attempt  was  ever  made  to  put  a  tariff  bill 
upon  the  general  civil  and  diplomatic  appropriation 
bill.  His  speech  shows  a  great  deal  of  indignation 
on  his  part  at  the  attempt  made,  in  this  mode,  to 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  253 

change  the  tariff,  and  at  the  tacking  of  a  measure  so 
incongruous  to  such  a  bill  —  the  effort  being  apparent 
to  force  the  Senate  to  vote  for  the  sections,  or  incur 
the  blame  of  stopping  the  wheels  of  government.  He 
exposed  to  the  Senate  the  great  danger  of  sanctioning 
such  a  practice  —  making  illustrations  of  a  striking 
kind  to  enlist  the  opposition  of  Senators.  The  debate 
necessarily  led  to  a  discussion  of  the  tariff  subject,  and 
incidentally  to  the  reciprocity  treaty,  then  lately  con 
cluded  with  England  with  respect  to  the  British  posses 
sions  in  North  America,  by  which  there  had  been  es 
tablished  reciprocal  free  trade  between  them,  so  far 
as  all  agricultural  productions  were  concerned.  After 
delivering  his  views  in  opposition  to  the  sections  in 
question,  not  only  as  a  dangerous  precedent  for  the 
future,  but  for  their  intrinsic  evil  to  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  as  he  regarded  the  subject,  he  discussed  at 
length  the  treaty  of  reciprocity,  clearly  showing  that 
the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  Canadians,  and 
that  certain  portions  of  our  agricultural  industry  had 
grossly  suffered  from  its  negotiation.  This  part  of  his 
speech  was  listened  to  with  great  attention  by  a  large 
number  of  agriculturists  who  had  come  to  Washington 
to  attend  a  convention  held  in  their  interest  at  the 
seat  of  government.  So  gratified  were  they  with  the 
remarks  about  the  tariff  subject,  that  many  members 
of  their  body  waited  upon  Mr.  Clayton  the  next  day, 
and  thanked  him  heartily,  for  the  sentiments  expressed 
by  him ;  and  also  congratulated  him  upon  the  suc 
cess  which  his  motion  to  strike  out  received  —  a  vote 

•    32 


MEMOIR    OF 

having  been  taken  at  the  close  of  the  speech,  which 
resulted  in  twenty  -  four  for  the  motion,  and  twenty  - 
one  against  it.  The  speech  was  published  (that  is, 
the  part  of  it  relating  to  the  tariff),  by  direction  of 
the  Agricultural  Convention,  and  produced  so  strong 
an  impression  upon  those  who  read  or  heard  it, 
that  when  that  bill  went  back  to  the  House  for  con-  . 
currence  in  the  Senate's  amendment,  that  body  gave 
its  consent  to  the  action  of  the  Senate  by  a  majority 
of  six  votes.  Referring  to  the  tacking  feature  of  the 
bill  as  such,  it  is  not  perhaps  too  much  to  say,  that 
but  for  the  effort  of  Clayton  to  defeat  it  as  a  bad 
precedent,  and  the  exposure  of  the  mischief  that  might 
be  done  in  the  future  if  it  were  allowed,  we  should 
have  had  engrafted  upon  our  legislative  forms,  as 
legitimate  features,  totally  incongruous  provisions,  and 
obnoxious  measures  forced  upon ,  the  country,  through 
the  contrivance  of  amendments  to  bills  without  the 
passage  of  which,  at  every  session,  the  business  of  the 
country  cannot  be  carried  on. 

THE  NAVAL  RETIRING  BOARD. 

On  the  29th  day  of  February,  1856,  Mr.  Iverson, 
a  Senator  from  Georgia,  submitted  to  the  Senate  the 
following  resolutions : 

"Resolved,    That   a   committee    of Senators   be 

appointed    by   the   chair,    with   power   to    send    for    per 
sons   and    papers;      and    that    said    committee    be    and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  255 

are  hereby  authorized  and  instructed  to  summon  before 
it,  the  members  of  the  late  Naval  Retiring  Board,  or 
such  of  them  as  may  be  conveniently  brought  before 
the  committee,  and  examine  them  upon  oath,  as  to 
the  facts  and  evidence,  grounds  and  reasons,  upon 
which  the  action  of  the  said  board  was  founded  in 
each  case  of  the  officers  recommended  to  be  put  on 
the  retired  list,  or  dropped  from  the  service ;  and 
that  said  committee  be  further  instructed  to  inquire 
and  obtain  any  other  facts  which,  in  their  opinion, 
may  bear  upon  the  cases  aforesaid,  and  report  the 
same  to  the  Senate. 

"  And  be  it  further  resolved.  That  said  committee  be 
authorized  and  instructed  to  advise  and  consult  with 
the  President  of  the  United  States  in  relation  to  re 
tired  and  dropped  officers  with  the  view  of  correcting 
any  error  or  injustice,  which  may  have  been  commit 
ted  by  the  action  of  said  Retiring  Board,  by  the  re- 
appointment,  or  restoration  by  the  President,  of  such 
officers  as  may  have  been  unjustly,  or  improperly,  re 
tired  or  dropped." 


Years  before  this,  complaints  had  been  made  all 
over  the  country  of  inefficiency,  or  incompetency, 
among  officers  of  the  navy;  and,  for  at  least  twenty 
years,  the  various  Secretaries  had  proclaimed  the  ne 
cessity  of  reform.  It  was  said  that  many  of  those 
officers  were  grossly  intemperate.  So  general  was  the 
belief  that  the  personnel  of  the  navy  was  by  no  means 
what  it  ought  to  be,  that  Congress  at  last  passed  a 
law,  approved  February  28th,  1855,  to  promote  the  effi 
ciency  of  that  branch  of  our  service,  by  the  creation 


2c6  MEMOIR    OF 

of  a  Retiring  Board  —  the  duties  of  which  were  to 
examine  into  the  case 'of  officers  and  recommend  their 
retention  in  active  service,  their  retirement  on  leave 
pay,  or  from  the  navy  altogether.  As  this  was  a 
very  important  and  delicate  service,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  to  whom  that  duty  pertained  by  the  law, 
selected  the  board,  composed  by  the  statute  of  five 
captains,  five  commanders,  and  five  lieutenants,  from 
the  more  distinguished  officers  qualified  for  it,  and 
who,  themselves,  could  not,  in  any  respect,  be  con 
sidered  subjects  of  its  operation.  Their  names  are 
as  follows :  Captains,  W.  B.  Shubrick,  M.  C.  Perry, 
C.  S.  McCauley,  C.  K.  Stribling,  C.  A.  Bigelow;- 
Commanders,  G.  J.  Peridergrast,  F.  Buchanan,  S.  F. 
duPont,  Samuel  Barren,  A.  H.  Fpote ;  Lieutenants, 
•  J.  S.  Missroon,  R.  L.  Page,  S.  W.  Godon,  W.  L. 
Maury,  James  Biddle. 

Every  one  can  understand  that  the  duty  devolved 
upon  this  body  of  officers  was  of  a  very  unpleasant 
nature.  They  had  to  deal  with  at  least  four  classes 
of  cases,  and  no  matter  .  what  they  might  conclude, 
they  would  be  sure  of  censure,  at  least,  not  only 
from  the  parties  most  immediately  affected,  the  officers, 
but  also  from  all  their  relations  and  'such  of  their 
friends  also  as  would  prefer  rather  to  espouse  their 
side  than  to  be  just  to  the  Board.  These  classes 
were,  old  age,'  physical  unfitness  from  wounds  or 
otherwise,  hopeless  ignorance,  and  incompetency  from 
the  habit  of  drunkenness.  To  the  credit  of  the  corps, 
no  member  of  it  could  be  honestly  accused  of  coward- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  357 

ice.  It  was  at  once  realized  that  if  the  Board  were 
fearless  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  .and  had  it 
alone  in  view,  the  consequence  must  be  a  report 
recommending  the  retirement,  partial  or  total,  of  a 
large  number  of  officers,  some  of  them  of  great  dis-  . 
tinction  as  fighting  captains.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
law  was  unpopular  in  the  navy  —  for  no  man  could 
tell  whether  the  report  of  the  board  might  not  em 
brace  his  own  case  as  one  to  be  dealt  with ;  but 
upon  one  point,  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion  — 
that  the  persons  chosen  by  the  Secretary  to  aid  him 
in  executing  it,  were  thoroughly  well  suited  for  the 
examination  contemplated.  Although  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ha.s  elapsed  since  the  board  made  its 
report  to  the  Secretary,  yet  it  is  well  remembered 
how  it  was  received  when  made  public.  The  board 
had  .acted  with  great  diligence,  and  so  entirely  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Secretary,  that  he  approved  the  re 
port  of  those  composing  it,  without  any  exception,  or 
qualification  —  the  highest  compliment  he  could  bestow 
upon  those  officers,  and  the  surest  evidence  (as  the 
event  proved)  that  their  findings  were  right.  I  have 
said,  it  is  well  remembered  how  the  report  was  re 
ceived  when  it  was  made  public.  It  encountered  a 
storm  of  opposition  and  denunciation  by  people  and 
newspapers  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other ; 
for  no  section  but  had  some  officer  that  was  recom 
mended  to  be  retired,  or  dismissed;  and  none  of 
them  but  had  large  family  connexions,  or  circles  of 
friends,  to  take  up  the  weapons  of  offence  and  oppo- 


258 

sition  in  his  behalf.  Some  of  those  recommended  to 
be  retired  from  active  service  on  leave  pay,  were  vet 
erans  and  heroes  whose  conspicuous  valor,  on  memor 
able  occasions,  had  given  to  our  navy  a  character  of 
heroism  which  reflected  its  lustre  upon  our  national 
escutcheon;  some  others  were  renowned  as  men  of 
great  scientific  attainments ;  and  the  mass  of  the  rest, 
with  rare  exceptions,  were  brave  and  able,  and  com 
petent,  but  for  the  fatal  addiction  to  intemperance. 
All  being  brave,  and  inspiring  in  the  breasts  of  all 
people  of  emotion,  intense  admiration  for  that  semi  - 
reckless  courage  which  sailors  are  known  to  possess 
in  a  superlative  degree,  the  first  sentiment  of  almost 
every  one  was  that  the  board  had  acted  unjustly,  not 
to  say  cruelly.  In  this  condition  of  feeling,  a  great 
many  lent  a  "  greedy  ear"  to  all  suggestions  of  un 
worthy  purpose  —  so  prone  is  mankind  to  believe  the 
worst,  where  hostile  feelings  are  aroused.  The  Board 
was  accused  of  paving  the  way  for  their  own  promo 
tion,  of  jealousy,  of  enmity,  and  of  every  other  '  un 
worthy  motive  that  could  be  imagined  as  influencing 
its  action. 

This  state  of  feeling  was  communicated  to  and 
shared  in  by  members  of  Congress  —  some  among 
whom  are  always  ready  to  lay  hold  upon  and  make 
the  most  of  any  and  every  thing  which  causes  pop 
ular  excitement,  or  is  the  occasion  of  popular  disturb 
ance.  Besides,  the  aggrieved  were  some  of  them  of 
their  own  people,  and  Congressmen  felt  under  a  sort 
of  obligation  to  espouse  their  cause.  This  latter  influ- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  259 

ence  led  to  the  introduction  into  the  Senate  of  Mr. 
Iverson's  resolution.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  how 
ever,  that  the  feeling  was  all  on  one  side.  There 
were  plenty  of  persons  all  over  the  country,  some  of 
them  distinguished  members  of  Congress,  who  were 
inclined  to  treat  the  board  with  fairness,  and  not  to 
condemn  without  an  impartial  hearing  and  examina 
tion  ;  and  others,  who  never  had  any  doubt  at  all 
about  the  matter,  knowing  that  the  popular  discontent 
with  the  state  of  the  navy,  respecting  the  efficiency 
of  its  corps  of  officers,  was  justifiable,  and  believing, 
from  their  knowledge  of  the  individuals  composing 
the  board,  that  its  recommendations  were  as  just  as 
they  were  unselfish.  Among  this  latter  class  was  the 
subject  of  this  memoir,  and  one  who  shared  this  con 
fidence  with  him  —  his  colleague,  James  A.  Bayard. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  discussion  of  the  resolu 
tions  began  in  the  Senate,  before  it  became  apparent, 
that  while  the  Naval  Board  was  the  main  target  of 
attack,  there  was  a  member  of  it  who  had  been  sin 
gled  out  for  the  deadliest  aim  of  every  shaft,  and 
he  was  Samuel  F.  duPont.  He  was'  a  man  of  dis 
tinction  in  the  navy,  for  his  character,  acquirements, 
and  ability ;  and  was  assumed  by  the  sufferers,  and 
their  advocates,  to  be  the  master  spirit  of  the  com 
mission.  Although  he  had  'not,  in  any  sense,  made 
himself  prominent  in  any  action  of  the  board  —  it  was 
not  consistent  with  his  nature  to  thrust  himself  forward 
unless  the  occasion  demanded  it  —  it  somehow  came 
to  be  felt,  apparently,  that  he  had  a  controlling  in- 


26o  MEMOIR    OF 

fluence  with  his  fellow  members ;  and  as  war  must 
be  made  on  somebody  for  the'  board's  action,  it  was 
determined  that  its  punishment  should  fall  upon  him. 
This  was  just  the  kind  of  thing  to  rouse  John  M. 
Clayton's  energies,  which  were  then  becoming  weak 
ened  by  the  shadow  of  that  coming  event,  his  illness, 
which  caused  his  death  in  eight  months  afterwards. 

As  I  have  before  said,  among  the  influences  that 
operated  upon  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Clayton,  and  consti 
tuted  characteristics  of  his  life,  were  those  of  State 
pride,  or  love  for  his  native  State,  and  all  that 
was  distinguished  in  her  career;  and  his  devotion  to 
friends.  To  assail  a  Delawarean  who  had  conferred 
honor  upon  Delaware,  or  to  make  an  unjust  assault 
upon  a  personal  friend,  were  certain  to  call  forth  from 
Clayton  such  a  defence  as  made  his  adversary  to  be 
ware  of  him :  for  where  the  attack  had  the  appear 
ance  of  wantonness,  he  did  not  content  himself  with 
bare  defence,  however  complete  that  might  seem  to  be, 
but  literally  carried  the  war  into  Africa,  and  became 
the  assailant  in  his  turn  —  acting  upon  the  sagacious 
theory,  that  defence,  to  be  complete,  in  case  of  assaults 
upon  individuals,  or  on  a  community,  must  have  also 
the  effect  of  punishing  for  the  wrong  done,  or  intended. 
In  that  way,  alone,  can  you  be  secure  from  future 
aggressions.  He  felt  that  if  it  should  pass  unchallenged 
that  duPont  had  done  wrong,  the  State,  whose  honor 
was  involved  in  his,  as  a  public  man  and  officer, 
would  suffer ;  she  would  lose  the  prestige  of  having 
never  had  a  public  son  who  had  cast  a  stain  upon 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  26l 

her  fair  shield.  In  addition  to  this  strong  incentive 
to  action,  duPont  was  his  friend,  though  several  years 
his  junior,  and  was  one  of  the  sons  of  a  gentleman 
with  whom  he  had  been  associated  in  his  very  early 
life,  when  Clerk  of  the  Legislature  —  Victor  duPont, 
a  distinguished  member  of  that  body,  who  had  mani 
fested  for  the  then  struggling  young  lawyer  a  strong 
sense  of  appreciation  and  friendship.  Here,  then,  were 
two  motives  to  influence  Clayton,  and  put  him  upon 
his  mettle  as  an  antagonist ;  either,  however,  strong 
enough  to  educe  an  effort  worthy  of  his  reputation 
as  a  master  in  debate. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  subject  in  hand,  Mr. 
Clayton  made  two  speeches,  which  are  exhaustive  of 
the  whole  subject  —  and  the  latter  of  them  something 
more.  The  first  was  delivered  in  executive  session 
on  the  nth  of  March,  1856,  and  afterwards  came  to 
light  by  the  removal  of  the  injunction  of  secrecy  from 
the  proceedings,  and  the  other  on  the  last  day  of 
that  month  and  the  first  of  the  month  following. 
The  first  speech  may  be  treated  as  a  defence  of  Cap 
tain  duPont,  who  had  been  savagely  attacked,  up  to 
that  time,  chiefly  out  of  Congress,  by  those  and  their 
friends  who  felt  aggrieved  by  the  action  of  the  Board. 
Among  other  things,  it  had  been  imputed  to  him, 
that  he  lacked  the  courage  which  a  naval  officer  re 
quired,  and  that  he  and  others  had  so  conducted 
themselves  on  board  ship,  under  the  command  of  the 
old  hero,  Commodore  Hull,  while  in  the  Mediterranean 
on  a  cruise,  as  to  require  him  to  report  them  to  the 

33 


262  MEMOIR   OF 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  had  directed  their  public 
reprimand  by  reading  his  letter  to  that  effect ;  and 
that  they  had  been  ordered  home  by  the  Commodore, 
that  their  cases  might  be  examined  by  the  Secretary. 
I  need  not  say  to  most  of  my  hearers,  how  com 
plete  was  the  vindication  by  this  speech,  in  execu 
tive  session,  against  both  these  charges  —  the  first  of 
which  was  shown  to  be  without  the  slightest  foun 
dation  by  a  memorable  event  recited,  and  the  last  by 
the  adduction  of  all  the  facts  constituting  the  case  of 
duPont's  assailants.  It  was  one  of  Clayton's  charac 
teristic  qualities  to  leave  nothing  undone  or  unsaid 
when  he  undertook  a  defence,  anywhere.  He  took 
care  to  supply  himself  with  all  the  available  means 
within  reach,  and  then  used  them  with  complete  effi 
ciency.  He  brought  forward,  in  answer  to  the  first 
imputation,  the  report  made  by  Lieutenant  Heywood, 
to  his  commander  -  in  -  chief.  This  officer  had  been 
stationed,  by  the  commodore  commanding  the  Pacific 
squadron  (there  was  no  land  force  at  that  time  in 
California),  with  four  passed  midshipmen  and  mariners, 
in  the  mission  -  house  of  San  Jose,  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  a  threat  of  Colonel  Pineda,  that  he 
would  come  to  that  place  and  put  to  death  all  friendly 
to  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  DuPont  was  at  that 
time  at  La  Paz,  in  command  of  the  Cyane,  and  hear 
ing  of  the  peril  of  Heywood,  sailed  at  once  for  his 
relief.  The  next  morning,  at  daylight,  he  landed  his 
force  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  officers  and  men, 
the  most  of  them  sailors  only,  took  command  of  them 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  263 

in  person,  and  succeeded,  after  a  perilous  march,  be 
ing  invested  by  the  enemy  on  all  sides,  in  reaching 
the  post,  and  rendering  the  desired  succor ;  but  this 
was  done  only  at  the  expense  of  hard  fighting,  with 
a  foe  greatly  superior  in  numbers,  well  mounted  and 
completely  armed.  In  fact,  this  small  battle  was,  under 
all  the  circumstances,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  en 
gagements  of  the  war,  and  will  ever  form  a  bright 
page  in  our  country's  history  —  from  its  phenomenal 
character,  a  battle  between  sailors  ashore,  and  a 
mounted  enemy  of  the  best  of  the  Mexican  Cavaliers, 
splendidly  armed,  accoutred,  and  mounted.  It  could 
never  have  been  won  but  for  the  determined  courage 
of  duPont,  supported  by  the  gallantry  of  his  devoted 
force.  The  history  of  this  enterprise  and  its  result, 
the  report  of  Lieutenant  Heywood  to  Commodore 
W.  Branford  Shubrick,  and  his  to  John  Y.  .  Mason, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  are  all  given  in  this  speech  in 
executive  session,  and  effectually  disposed  of  the  most 
serious  of  the  charges  made  against  him,  by  duPont's 
enemies ;  serious  only,  however,  because  it  had  been 
constituted  part  of  the  material  for  a  public  attack. 
With  respect  to  the  second  of  the  charges,  Clayton 
showed  that  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  came 
to  hear  the  case  of  duPont,  and  that  of  his  compan 
ions  in  trouble,  Pendergrast,  Misroon,  and  Godon, 
and  had  examined  their  proofs,  he  fully  exculpated 
those  officers,  ordered  them  back  to  their  places  on 
board  the  Ohio,  and  sent  another  dispatch  to  Com 
modore  Hull,  exempting  them  from  all  censure ;  and, 


264 


MEMOIR    OF 


further,  using  the  language  of  the  speaker,  "  so  strong 
ly  was  the  Secretary  convinced  of  the  injustice  that 
had  been  done  them,  that  he  directed  the  commo 
dore  to  cause  this  dispatch  to  be  read  publicly  in 
the  presence  of  all  the  officers  who  had  heard  his 
previous  letter  of  censure." 

The  second  speech  was  a  defence  of  the  law  to 
promote  the  efficiency  of  the  navy,  and  of  the  action 
of  the  board  appointed  under  it.  In  vindicating  them 
he  was  compelled  to  consider  one  case  of  alleged  in 
justice,  and,  as  it  appeared  to  the  country  until  the 
facts  were  brought  out,  of  actual  wrong.  Among  those 
who  were  recommended  to  be  retired  upon  pay  was 
Lieutenant  Maury,  an  officer  of  great  distinction  not 
only  on  account  of  his  fine  qualities  as  a  sailor,  but 
of  his  conspicuous  acquirements  in  the  sciences  of  hy 
drography  and  meteorology.  He  had  written  and  pub 
lished  upon  the  subject  of  both,  and  it  was  generally 
conceded  that  his  contributions  to  that  peculiar  knowl 
edge,  most  valuable  to  sea -going  men,  were  of  more 
value  than  those  of  all  other  persons.  His  "  Physical 
Geography  of  the  Sea"  not  only  showed  the  cause  but 
the  effects  also  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  characterized  by 
him  as  the  great  river  in  the  ocean,  and  also  gave  the 
most  valuable  information  with  respect  to  the  aerial 
currents,  the  periodicity,  force,  and  direction  of  some  of 
them,  and  the  value  to  the  mariner  of  knowledge  of 
the  whole  of  them.  This  man  was  recommended  to 
be  placed  on  the  retired  list ;  and  here  seemed  to 
be  a  monstrous  outrage  upon  the  person  himself,  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  26$ 

an  insult  to  the  intelligence  and  sense  of  justice  of  the 
country.  How  could  such  a  man  be  unfit  for  duty 
as  an  officer  ? 

It  must  be  explained,  that  the  report  of  the  board 
had  been  made  to  the  Secretary,  his  approval  given, 
the  necessary  orders  of  retirement  on  pay,  or  abso 
lutely,  issued ;  and  yet  none  of  the  evidence  upon 
which  the  board  acted,  had  been  published.  Indeed, 
there  was  no  record  kept  by  the  board,  and  all  their 
examinations  had  been  in  secret.  It  was  impossible, 
therefore,  for  the  public  to  understand  how  one  so 
distinguished  as  Lieutenant  Maury  should  have  been 
included  by  the  board  in  its  list  of  those  to  be  re 
tired  from  active  service.  Not  to  mention  other  cases, 
this  one  was  selected  as  that  with  which  the  strongest 
attack  could  be  made  upon  the  board ;  and  General 
Houston,  of  Texas,  took  it  up  and  used  it  with  great 
success.  He  had,  it  seems,  recommended  Maury  as  an 
applicant,  years  before,  for  a  midshipman's  warrant ; 
and  obtained  it  for  him.  He  was,  therefore,  bound, 
as  he  felt,  to  stand  by  his  protege;  and  besides, 
being  a  gallant  man,  he  naturally  espoused  the  cause 
of  one  he  thought  oppressed.  It  did  look  as  if  the 
board  had,  in  this  case  at  least,  been  guilty  of  the 
charges  preferred  against  it.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
law  authorizing  the  creation  of  the  board  was  assailed 
with  great  fervor j  it  was  denounced  as  unrepublican  in 
spirit;  and  all  that  the  wisdom  or  wit  of  men  could  find 
to  say  against  it  or  the  board,  was  said,  and  freely. 
The  right  to  remove  an  officer  of  the  navy  was  seri- 


MEMOIR    OF 

ously  questioned,  and  this  by  men  who  had  never 
questioned  such  Executive  power  before.  All  this  ex 
cited  in  Clayton  that  spirit  of  defence  which  I  have 
described  as  partaking  in  turn  of  aggression.  He  was 
thoroughly  aroused  to  what  he  regarded  a  duty 
to  defend  the  law  he  voted  for,  the  action  generally 
of  the  board  of  which  a  distinguished  Delaware  officer 
was  a  member,  and  its  particular  recommendation  in 
the  case  of  Lieutenant  Maury.  He  felt  also  rejoiced 
at  the  opportunity  of  exposing  the  assailants  of  the 
board  in  their  new  position  with  respect  to  the  power 
of  removal. 

This  speech  was  opened  by  a  consideration  of  the 
last  topic  mentioned,  and  its  author  went  back  to  the 
famous  Foot's  Resolution  debate  of  1830,  to  show 
what  had  been  said  upon  the  subject  generally  then, 
and  that  the  party  of  which  his  chief  adversaries  now 
were  members  or  supporters  had  sustained  the  power, 
and  that  the  country  had  ultimately  adopted  the  view 
taken  of  the  subject  by  the  supporters  of  the  Admin 
istration  of  General  Jackson.  He  then  claimed  that 
an  officer  of  the  navy  was  no  more  exempt  from  the 
operation  of  this  law  of  the  Executive  office  than  any 
other  officer,  except  the  judges ;  that  General  Jackson 
had  summarily  struck  from  the  rolls  of  the  navy  the 
names  of  Lieutenant  Hunter  and  his  associates  in  a 
duel,  and  that  his  right  to  do  so  was  not  questioned. 
In  the  midst  of  this  Senator  Butler,  of  South  Carolina, 
rose  and  said : 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

"  I  desire  to  propound  a  question  to  my  friend 
from  Delaware,  for  I  have  great  respect  for  his  opin 
ions  and  investigations.  He  assumes,  what  I  suppose 
is  now  the  practice,  that  the  President  has  the  right 
to  dismiss  any  civil  officer  at  his  mere  will  and 
pleasure,  because  he  may  dislike  him,  or  be  politically 
opposed  to  him.  Will  my  friend  also  assume  the  broad 
ground  that  the  President,  at  his  mere  pleasure,  has 
a  right  to  dismiss  a  military  or  naval  commander, 
however  eminent  he  may  be,  because  he  may  have 
a  personal  dislike  towards  him,  or  may  be  opposed 
to  him  in  politics  ?" 

To   which    the   following   reply  was    instantly    made: 

"  I  will  answer  my  friend  with  great  pleasure.  I 
have  had  the  same  question  proposed  to  me  before. 
The  question  is,  Has  the  President  the  right  to  re 
move  any  naval  officer,  at  his  pleasure  ?  I  answer 
that  the  commission  of  every  officer,  naval,  military, 
or  civil,  bears,  on  its  face,  the  true  tenure  of  his 
office.  He  is,  by  the  terms  of  it,  to  hold  his  office 
'  during  the  pleasure  of  the  President,'  unless  he  be 
a  judicial  officer.  That  answers  the  question  of  my 
friend  from  South  Carolina.  If  he  means  to  inquire 
of  me  whether  I  think  it  right,  in  foro  conscientice, 
for  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  remove  an 
officer  of  the  army  or  navy,  arbitrarily,  without  re 
ference  to  the  public  interest,  which  alone  should  con 
trol  in  all  removals,  I  tell  him,  as  I  have  always 
told  others,  that  removals  so  made  are  gross  abuses 
of  Executive  power.  But  when  the  President  removes, 
how  can  you  inquire  into  the  grounds  of  his  action  ? 
You  cannot  reach  him.  The  effort  was  made  in  the 


MEMOIR   OF 

Senate  again  and  again,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
to  ascertain  the  reasons  for  Executive  removals,  and  it  . 
always  failed.  No  President  has  permitted  any  Senate, 
and  no  President,  I  venture  to  say,  ever  will  permit 
any  Senate  to  take  him  to  task  as  to  the  grounds 
on  which  he  has  made  his  removals.  The  result  of 
all  such  experiments  is,  that  the  President  has  the 
power,  and  is  responsible  only  to  God  and  the  coun 
try  for  its  exercise." 

It  was  said,  also,  that  the  removals  under  the  law 
were  contrary  to  republican  liberty.  Clayton  replied, 
'•'  We  are  told  that  the  removals  of  naval  officers, 
under  the  operation  of  this  law,  are  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  republican  liberty ;  and  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia  has  ventured,  in  substance,  to  affirm  this. 
Sir,  what  have  the  principles  of  republican  liberty  to 
do  with  the  government  and  organization  of  the  army 
and  navy  ?  How  are  you  to  control  a  navy  or  an 
army  —  to  govern  crews  and  soldiers — upon  your  prin 
ciples  of  republican  liberty?  The  government  of  a 
navy,  to  a  great  extent,  must  necessarily  be  a  mili 
tary  despotism,  where  supreme  power  is  vested  in  the 
commander,  and  absolute  submission  required  from  the 
men  and  inferior  officers.  The  moment  this  state  of 
things  ceases  on  board  ship,  the  crew  and  commander 
are  worthless  ;  they  cannot  fight  with  effect  in  defence 
of  the  country."  He  then  argued  that  the  power  of 
removal  by  the  President  having  beefl  conceded  to 
exist  without  supervision  by  Congress,  there  was.  no 
distinction  between  one  class  of  public  officers  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  269 

another — all  being  subject  to  the  operation  of  the  same 
principle. 

Having  exhausted  the  the  subject  of  Executive 
power,  and  answered  with  success  the  argument  of  his 
friend  Crittenden,  that  the  Presidential  power  was  de 
rived  from  the  statute  creating  the  Naval  Board,  he 
suspended  any  further  remarks  until  the  next  day, 
when  he  entered  upon  the  consideration  of  the  case 
of  Lieutenant  Maury  —  the  strongest  point  that  had 
been  made  against  its  action.  It  was  not  necessary 
to  devote  any  more  time  to  the  special  defence  of 
of  Captain  duPont;  for  though  he  had  been  attacked, 
he  said,  with  more  virulence  than  any  other  member 
of  the  Naval  Board,  yet  he  had  been  defended  by  his 
colleague  (James  A.  Bayard)  "  so  ably  and  fully,  that 
he  was  lifted  beyond  the  reach  of  any  vindication 
to  which  my  humble  efforts  could  aspire." 

On  that  day  he  finished  his  argument  in  defence 
of  the  law  and  the  board,  before  he  addressed  him 
self  to  Maury's  case.  When  he  had  done  with  the 
latter,  it  was  too  plain  for  question  that  it  was  really 
no  case  at  all,  notwithstanding  General  Houston  had 
made  so  much '  of  it.  Now,  in  all  this  discussion, 
Mr.  Clayton,  and  those  who  took  the  same  views  that 
he  did,  labored  at  great  disadvantage,  for  two  good 
reasons  —  the  first  of  which  was,  that  it  would  have 
been  cruel  to  have  defended  the  board  by  recital  of 
the  facts  upon  which  they  acted  in  individual  cases ; 
the  exposure  would  have  wounded  the  feelings  of  all 
connected  with  those  officers,  where  bad  habits  or  want 

34 


2/0 


MEMOIR    OF 


of  qualification  was  the  cause  of  recommendation  for 
retirement ;  and  the  second  that  the  officers  had  en 
listed  a  strong  influence  in  their  behalf  from  sympathy 
or  other  reason,  and  had  secured  the  good  offices,  not 
only  of  newspapers,  but  of  hosts  of  friends  also.  Thus 
the  battle  for  the  Naval  Board  had  to  be  fought  at 
great  odds  against  those  who  led  in  it.  There  was,  as 
Clayton  and  those  supporting  him  knew,  a  powerful 
reserve  force,  in  the  facts  of  the  different  cases  be 
fore  the  board ;  but  they  could  not  use  them  —  like 
a  general  with  an  all-sufficient  reserve  corps  in  his 
rear,  but  which  for  some  cause  he  is  unable  to  avail 
himself  of,  in  the  time  of  peril.  The  defence,  therefore, 
had  for  the  most  part  to  be  confined  to  a  mere  sup 
port  of  the  law,  and  the  repulse  of  attacks  made  upon 
the  characters  of  members  of  the  board  —  which  were 
assailed  on  grounds  of  personal  hostility,  jealousy,  and 
otherwise,  as  has  been  before  observed.  And  in  de 
fence  of  the  law  itself,  Clayton  had  not  the  valuable 
aid  of  his  colleague,  who  was  hostile  to  it  as  a 
measure.  In  fact,  taking  the  defence  as  a  whole,  it 
was  hardly  made  by  any  but  him  —  others  aiding  in 
making  part  of  it  only.  Emboldened  by  the  state  of 
feeling,  as  evinced  by  the  newspapers,  the  fact  that 
there  was  hardly  any  Senator  who  was  not  in  some 
way  connected  with  a  retired  officer,  and  believing 
that  the  success  of  the  attack  upon  the  board  might 

« 

be  risked  upon  the  case  of  so  conspicuous  a  veteran 
as  Lieutenant  Maury,  those  hostile  to  the  law  brought 
it  prominently  forward,  and  General  Houston  dwelt 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2/I 

upon  it  at  great  length,  and  with  extremely  ingenious 
treatment — for  the  old  hero  of  San  Jacinto  was  well 
skilled  in  attack  in  debate  as  well  as  war  of  arms,  and 
enjoyed  much  consideration  by  his  brother  Senators 
from  his  urbane  manners,  exhibition  of  personal  respect 
for  them,  and  that  simpleness  in  social  intercourse 
which  marked  him  as  a  man  of  good  feelings  and 
endeared  him  to  all  with  whom  he  was  upon  terms  • 
of  acquaintance.  It  is  most  probable  that  he  did  not 
know  the  facts  of  the  case  of  the  Lieutenant ;  or, 
knowing  them,  trusted  that  they  were  not  understood 
by  Clayton  —  a  fatal  mistake,  which  men  often  make 
who  underrate  their  adversaries'  resources;  and  which 
was  always  made  when  Clayton  was  the  adversary, 
for  he  invariably  contrived  in  some  way  to  be  master 
of  all  the  facts  of  every  case  he  dealt  with.  And  he 
proved  so  to  be  in  this  case.  While  conceding  cheer 
fully  all  that  had  been  urged  with  respect  to  the 
eminent  abilities  -of  Lieutenant  Maury  as  an  officer 
and  scientist,  he  yet  proved  beyond  the  possibility  of 
refutation,  from  the  public  records,  that  owing  to  an 
unfortunate  accident'  years  before  in  Ohio,  when  upon 
Government  duty,  he  had  become  physically  disquali 
fied  to  perform  active  service  at  sea  in  case  of 
emergency,  and,  in  fact,  had  at  his  own  application 
been  not  only  placed  upon  the  pension  list,  but  had 
secured  a  change  of  his  pay  by  proving  that  his  in 
jury  was  of  a  grade  rendering  him  less  able  than  he 
had  been  before  reported  to  be.  In  addition  to  all 
this  he  cited  the  fact  that  he  was  then,  and  for  years 


272  MEMOIR    OF 

had  been,  in  charge  of  the  National  Observatory  at 
Washington,  with  a  salary  far  beyond  that  to  which 
he  would  have  been  entitled,  if  retained,  and  had  not 
been  to  sea  in  twenty  years.  And  he  went  farther ; 
in  order  to  strip  of  all  its  force  this  case,  of  which 
so  much  had  been  made  by  the  opponents  of  the 
board,  he  quoted  from  one  of  several  letters  which 
Lieutenant  Maury  had  written  and  published  in  the 
National  Intelligencer,  in  the  form  of  epistles  to  his 
son,  but  intended  for  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Referring  to  the  example  of  De  Witt  Clinton  as  that 
of  a  man  who  had  achieved  his  fame  by  other  than 
political  preferments  or  success,  Maury  closed  this  let 
ter  as  follows :  "  Thus  you  see,  my  son,  that  one  can 
become  a  great  man  —  can  win  the  blessings  of  poster 
ity,  receive  the  praise  of  the  good,  and  be  crowned 
with  honors  —  without  being  a  great  general  or  sea  - 
captain,  or  any  thing  else  in  the  gift  of  '  Uncle 
Sam."  I  hope  you  will  never  seek  his  service.  I 
consider  that  I  committed  the  great  mistake  of  my 
life  when  I  accepted  a  midshipman's  warrant  in  the 
Navy."  —  "This  passage,"  said  Clayton,  "has  dwelt  in 
my  memory,  because  I  recollect  well,  that  when  I  read 
it,  I  felt  somewhat  surprised  that  a  gentleman  standing 
high  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  as  I  had 
always  supposed  he  did,  should  so  far  seek  to  dis 
parage  the  American  service,  in  that  branch  of 
our  defence,  which  has  gained  the  name  of  our  coun 
try's  right  'arm,  as  to  say,  that  the  great  mistake  of 
his  life  was  in  receiving  a  midshipman's  warrant  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 

entering  into  the  navy.  If  that  was  the  great  mis 
take  of  his  life  —  if  he  would  have  been  a  much  greatar 
or  more  successful  man,  in  case  he  had  never  entered 
the  service  of  his  country,  why  is  it  he  is  now  so  de 
termined  and  fixed  in  his  purpose  to  remain  in  that 
service  ?  Why  should  he  so  much  care  about  remain 
ing  in  the  service,  if  he  can  advise  all  the  youth  of 
the  country  never  to  enter  service  ?  This  sentiment 
struck  me  —  I  submit  to  the  Senate  whether  I  was 
right  in  my  •  apprehension,  or  not  —  as  unpatriotic.  I 
trust  this  is  not  the  lesson  which  an  American  father 
is  to  teach  his  son.  Devotion  to  his  country;  readi 
ness  to  enter  its  service  at  all  times  -when  required  for 
its  honor  or  its  welfare ;  readiness  to  sacrifice  himself 
in  its  defence,  if  necessary  —  these  are  the  precepts  which 
I  think  it  becomes  an  American  father  to  teach  his 
child!'  I  have  emphasized  this  last  sentence  as  con 
taining  the  very  essence  of  all  patriotism.  Of  course, 
after  this  latter  exposure,  the  case  of  Lieutenant  Maury 
lost  all  its  consequence.  The  quick  sense  of  loyalty 
to  the  country  which  noticed  every  unworthy  expres 
sion  of  a  public  man,  took  offence  at  the  language 
of  Maury ;  and  Clayton's  faultless  memory  enabled  him 
to  recall  the  fatal  letter  in  the  hour  of  his  need  of 
it.  The  action  of  the  board  in  that  particular,  could 
no  longer,  now,  be  reflected  upon ;  and  this  was,  if 
possible,  all  the  more  evident,  when  it  appeared,  in 
what  was  said  afterwards,  that  one  of  the  members 
of  the  board  was  the  Lieutenant's  own  cousin. 

All    the   efforts    made    to    disparage  the  law,  and  the 


ME  MO  IK    OF 

i 

action  of  the  board,  and  to  effect  the  reinstatement 
of  the  retired  officers,  failed  in  the  end ;  and  I  hazard 
nothing  in  asserting  that  this  so  much  traduced  law  has 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  on  the  statute 
book.  But  what  a  task  the  defence  of  the  naval 
board  imposed  upon  one  suffering,  then,  from  a  rapid 
decline  which  was  ere  long  to  terminate  in  death  !  He 
knew  it  would  tax  to  the  utmost  his  feeble  physical 
powers ;  but  he  was  impelled  to  the  performance  of 
the  work,  by  what  he  felt  due  to  one  who  had,  by 
his  bravery,  shed  lustre  upon  his  native  State,  and 
by  a  sense  also  of  the  injustice  attempted  against  a 
board  of  officers  of  the  best  ability  in  the  navy. 
The  honor  of  Delaware,  too,  was  involved ;  for  the 
misdeeds  of  a  public  man  are  charged  to  the  account 
of  his  State. 

With  this  contest  in  the  Senate,  ended  the  last  of 
the  discussions  in  Congress,  in  which  Clayton  took 
any  active  part ;  and  here  may  be  said  to  have  end 
ed  a  career  as  a  statesman  which  every  Delawarean 
can  look  back  upon  with  pride.  It  was  neither 
marred  by  mistakes,  nor  blemished  by  misdeeds. 
Throughout  it  all,  no  man,  however  reckless  of  truth, 
or  wicked  of  heart,  ever  imputed  to  him,  by  word 
or  innuendo,  anything  of  an  unworthy  nature.  So 
scrupulous  was  his  conscience,  that  he  never  would 
accept  the  slightest  gift  or  favor  of  any  kind 
that  could  be  referred  to  his  public  position  as  the 
motive  that  prompted  the  offer  of  it.  His  hands  were 
absolutely  clean  —  his  motto  being,  that  a  public 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  375 

man   should   be    as    Caesar's    wife,    npt  .  only   pure,    but 
above    suspicion. 


CONCLUSION. 

Having  treated  the  subject  of  a  memoir  of  John 
M.  Clayton  so  as  to  present  to  the  Historical  Society 
the  most  important  acts  of  his  life,  it  only  remains 
to  offer  a  summary  of  the  whole.  This  is  not  actu 
ally  necessary ;  as  this  paper  is  not  so  long  that 
any  part  of  it  should  be  forgotten  where  it  possesses 
interest.  But,  by  and  by,  when  all  here  are  dead, 
and  there  are  none  left  in  the  State  who  remember 
aught  that  I  have  recalled  to  your  memory,  students 
of  the  history  of  the  public  men  of  the  State  may 
arise,  who,  in  the  multitude  of  engagements  demanded 
of  them  by  the  increasing  tide  of  events,  may  not 
have  the  time,  or  having  it,  may  not  choose  to  read 
this  memoir  to  learn  all  about  Clayton  ;  and,  for  want 
of  a  compendium  of  it,  with  respect  to  his  personali 
ties  (if  I  may  use  such  a  word),  .may  content  them 
selves  with  some  other  publication,  and  thus  run  the 
risk  (as  we  all  incur  if  we  are  not  careful  to  find 
out  true  facts),  of  being  misled  by  ignorant  persons, 
or  those  perversely,  or  fatuitously,  bent  upon  establish 
ing  the  truth  of  some  theory,  or  dogma,  without  any 
support  except  such  as  it  finds  in  their  obtuse  or  per 
verted  brain.  There  is  another  reason  for  making  it;, 
that  in  a  condensed  form  will  be  presented  the  gen- 


2/6 


MEMOIR    OF 


eral   features    of  this    distinguished    man's    life,    in  all  its 
phases,    or   aspects. 

It  is  not  always,  by  any  means,  that  the  boy  gives 
promise  of  the  man;  though  "just  as  the  twig  is 
bent,  the  tree's  inclined,"  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was 
more  than  a  century  ago,  when  the  thought  found 
expression.  We  have  all  of  us  known  many  who,  in 
youth,  gave  the  highest  assurance  of  a  future  eminent 
career  in  the  senate,  at  the  bar,  or  in  the  field  of 
literature,  but  in  the  end,  disappointed  the  hopes 
of  those  interested  in  them,  and  settled  down,  as  we 
say,  into  the  places  of  very  ordinary  persons.  I  have 
known  many  such  myself,  and  rarely  one  of  them 
who  ever  became  distinguished  in  after  life.  The 
quality  of  mind  which  fits  one  for  the  mere  achieve 
ment  of  knowledge,  or  to  make  display  of  it  upon 
ordinary  occasions,  is  by  no  means  evidence  that 
the  distinction  it  secures  at  school  will  be  followed 
by  an  equal  superiority  in  after  life.  On  the  other 
hand  also,  we  are  not  to  treat  dullness,  or  ob- 
tuseness  of  intellect,  in  the  young,  however  it  may 
depress  us  when  observed  in  the  case  of  those  near 
to  us,  or  otherwise,  as  an  inevitable  sign  that  the  pos 
sessor  of  it  will  continue  to  be  so  distinguished  when 
he  reaches  mature  life.  In  the  case  of  both  classes, 
there  are  disappointments ;  in  the  first  of  them  griev 
ous,  and  in  the  latter  most  agreeable.  While  bright 
boys,  of  remarkable  powers  of  acquisition  and  expres 
sion,  have  signally  failed  in  the  battle  of  life ;  those 
of  heavy  minds  have,  on  the  contrary,  from  the  attri- 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  277 

tion  of  the  struggle,  proved  to  have  the  best  qualities 
for  the  attainment  of  solid  distinction.  There  are 
gems  that  flash  their  brilliancy  to  the  gaze  as  they 
lie  in  their  native  beds ;  but  the  finest  of  all  are  so 
encrusted,  that  the  art  of  the  polisher  is  required  to 
bring  forth  their  beauties  and  perfection.  The  rubbing 
which  the  struggle  for  existence,  or  the  necessity  of 
defence,  gives,  cleanses,  in  a  sense,  the  strong  intellect 
from  the  crust  that  encases  it,  and  makes  it  to  shine 
with  the  lustre  of  the  diamond,  before  whose  splendor 
other  jewels  fade  into  inferiority.  Clayton  possessed  a 
mind  made  up  of  the  brilliancy  of  the  precocious,  and 
the  strength  of  the  solid,  intellect.  But  he  had  not 
enough  of  the  former  to  disqualify  him  for  the  severe 
labor  he  employed  in  his  studies :  and  that  was  why 
he  became  so  distinguished  in  every  walk  of  life 
which  he  trod.  It  was  this  blending  of  genius,  if  I 
may  so  speak,  with  the  necessity  for  study  to  secure 
solid  attainments,  that  made  him  the  industrious 
scholar  that  he  was ;  that  enabled  him  to  graduate 
with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class  ;  that  nerved  him 
to  give  his  whole  attention  to  a  science  so  dull  as 
that  of  the  law  is  supposed  to  be;  to  make  the  one 
thousand  pages  of  notes  of  his  student  labors  that  he 
left  behind  him;  to  master,  as  no  man  in  the  State, 
as  I  verily  believe,  ever  j^ad  done  up  to  his  day,  the 
science  of  special  pleading  in  the  preparation  of  causes ; 
and  to  make  him  capable  of  entering  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-three  upon  a  Senatorial  life  so  distin 
guished  that  it  certainly  surpassed  that  of  most  men 

35 


278 


MEMOIR    OF 


in  this  country.  It  was  this  mingling  of  the  orna 
mental  with  the  solid,  the  foam  with  the  body,  that 
gave  him  such  unexampled  power  over  juries,  and  made 
his  addresses  to  the  court  upon  the  law  so  very  at 
tractive  :  and  no  man  who  has  lived  among  us  had 
greater  weight  with  either.  I  know  it  has  been  said 
that  he  had  equals  in  understanding  and  discussing 
questions  of  pure  law,  though  entire  superiority  was  al 
ways  conceded  to  him  with  juries ;  but  such  is  not  my 
opinion  of  him.  While  there  were  other  men  in  the 
State,  in  his  day,  on  and  off  the  berich,  who  were  splen 
did  lawyers  ;  yet  they  were,  I  think,  with  one  exception, 
more  men  of  books  than  of  genius,  and  sustained 
their  high  character  by  the  knowledge  of  decisions 
rather  than  by  the  appreciation  of  the  philosophic 
truth,  or  principle,  that  lay  at  the  bottom  of  them. 
Besides,  his  was  a  ready,  off-hand  knowledge  that  his 
fine  memory,  which,  as  I  have  said,  never  lost  any 
thing,  enabled  him  to  use  promptly,  and  without  the 
refreshing  that  re-reading  required  of  others.  His 
memory  was  cultivated  too ;  he  had  never  forgotten 
the  phrase  he  learnt  at  school  —  "memoria  augetur  ex- 
colendo"  —  the  memory  is  improved  by  exercising  it, — 
and  practised  it  with  the  best  success.  He  took  no 
regular  notes  of  argument  or  testimony,  in  his  trial 
of  causes,  but  where  a  word,  phrase,  or  expression 
required  to  be  commented  on ;  and  then,  more  for 
the  effect  such  note  would  make,  as  evidence  of  the 
importance  given  by  him  to  it,  than  for  any  other 
reason.  For  himself,  personally,  he  had  no  need  to 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  3/9 

make  notes ;  but  for  his  cause,  or  the  occasion,  he 
sometimes  wrote  them.  His  mind  was  so  intent  upon 
appropriating  all  that  was  necessary  for  the  presenta 
tion  of  his  case,  that  it  was  quite  full  by  the  time 
he  had  to  make  his  speech ;  or,  if  he  had  to  reply, 
his  adversary's  argument  was  sure  to  furnish  him  with 
all  the  material  he  needed.  If  the  adaptation  of  means 

to   ends   be   what    is    claimed    for   it  —  the    highest    evi- 

. 

dence  of  the  excellence  of  human  intellect  —  then  he  pos 
sessed  it  in  an  extraordinary  degree.  Whenever  he  en 
gaged  in  any  effort,  at  the  bar,  in  the  Senate,  or  in  the 
field  of  diplomacy,  when  success  was  attainable,  he 
achieved  it.  At  school,  it  was  to  excel ;  he  excelled.  In 
studying  law,  it  was  to  master  the  science ;  he  mas 
tered  it.  At  the  bar,  it  was -to  serve  his  client  to  the 
utmost  that  knowledge  and  skill  could ;  he  accom 
plished  it.  On  the  bench,  it  was  to  deliver  the  law, 
as  he  took  it  to  be,  without  partiality,  fear  or  favor ; 
and  he  did  it.  In  the  Senate,,  it  was  to  master  the 
principles  and  details  of  every  subject  that  he  treated 
in  argument,  or  was  required  to  vote  upon ;  and  he 
never  acted  without  doing  so.  As  a  diplomatist,  he 
aimed  at  his  country's  honor  and  interest,  which  alone 
influenced  his  negotiations.  Yet,  with  all  these  quali 
fications  of  mind,  study,  and  experience,  which  he 
possessed,  he  never  really  wanted  any  public  place, 
except  upon  the  occasion  in  1853,  to  which  I  have 
before  referred,  when  the  Clayton  -  Bulwer  Treaty  was 
attacked  in  the  Senate.  And  when,  soon  after  the  at 
tainment  of  his  sixtieth  year,  he  came  to  Dover  with 


2go  MEMOIR    OF 

the  expression  of  Woolsey  upon  his  lips,  "  An  old 
man,  broken  with  the  storms  of  state,  is  come  to  lay 
his  bones  among  you,"  he  made  no  complaint  that  he 
was  prevented  from  reaping  more  honors ;  and  only 
expressed  the  desire  that  justice  should  be  done  him 
when  he  had  gone.  Knowing  the  propensity  of 
the  world  to  be  unjust  to  public  men,  living  or  dead, 
he  only  craved  that  his  official  acts  should  ^not  be 
deprived  of  the  meed  to  whifch  they  were  entitled. 

With  all  the  greatness,  the  manliness,  the  robust 
ness  of  character,  which,  no  less  than  appearance  of 
form  and  face,  distinguished  Clayton  above  almost 
all  other  men,  he  had,  in  private  life,  the  gentleness  and 
tenderness  of  heart,  ease  and  frankness  of  manner,  and 
depth  and  sincerity  of  affection,  that  belonged  to  his 
paternal  ancestry.  Surely  I  am  not  mistaken,  in  say 
ing  that  these  traits  in  him,  so  like  the  same  which 
distinguish  the  Quakers,  came  to  him  from  his  fore 
fathers,  the  companions  of  Penn  in  his  voyage  to  pos 
sess  his  dominions  beyond  the  sea. 

On  the  Qth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  1856, 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  while,  his  chamber  was  yet 
illumined  by  the  glowing  light  of  the  just  departed 
sun,  John  M.  Clayton  passed,  without  pain  or  sign, 
from  this  world  into  that  other,  whose  realities  he 
neither  doubted  nor  feared  —  having  a  faith,  never 
shaken,  in  the  truth  and  necessity  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  its  assurance  to  the  repentant ;  and 
blessed  furthermore  with  that  inestimable  treasure  of 
morality  —  "  metis  conscia  recti." 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  28l 


OBITUARY   ADDRESSES. 

IN   THE   SENATE   OF    THE   UNITED   STATES,    WEDNESDAY, 
DECEMBER    3,    1856. 

Mr.    Bayard,    of    Delaware,    rose    and   addressed    the 

Senate   as    follows  : 

I 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  —  No  more  painful  duty  can  devolve 
upon  a  member  of  this  body  than  the  annunciation 
of  the  death  of  a  colleague ;  and  the  duty  becomes 
yet  more  painful  when  that  colleague  has  sustained 
an  elevated  position  in  the  country,  and  our  personal 
relations  to  him  have  been  those  of  kindness  and 
friendship. 

It  has  become  my  mournful  duty  to  announce  to 
the  Senate  the  death  of  my  distinguished  colleague 
and  friend,  the  Hon.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON.  He  died 
during  the  recess,  on  the  9th  of  November  last,  at 
his  residence  in  Dover,  in  his  sixty -first  year;  and 
though  his  health  had  been  uncertain  and  precarious 
for  some  years  past,  his  death  was  unexpected,  and 
has  been  the  source  of  sincere  and  deep  sorrow  both 
to  his  friends  and  fellow  -  citizens. 

This,  sir,  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  for  an 
analysis  of  his  great  mental  and  moral  endowments, 
or  a  critical  examination  of  the  political  opinions  he 
entertained,  or  general  measures  he  advocated  so  ably 
during  his  long  period  of  public  service.  A  brief 


2g-,  MEMOIR   OF 

sketch  of  his  career,  and  the  expression  of  my  sincere 
appreciation  of  his  many  virtues,  in  asking  for  the 
tribute  to  his  memory  of-  those  honors  —  vain  though 
they  be  —  which  custom  has  rendered  sacred,  and  to 
which  his  high  endowments  and  eminent  public  services 
so  well  entitle  it,  seem  more  appropriate  to  the  occa 
sion. 

JOHN  MIDDLETON  CLAYTON  was  born  in  th^  county 
of  Sussex  and  State  of  Delaware,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
A.  D.  1796.  His  father,  James  Clayton,  a  man  of  un 
questioned  integrity  and  active  business  habits,  was  a 
member  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the  State, 
his  ancestor  having  come  to  America  with  William 
Penn.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
of  Maryland. 

His  father's  means  were  those  of  competency,  not 
of  affluence,  though  his  affairs  became  embarrassed 
about  the  time  that  his  son's  education  was  completed  ; 
but,  with  wise  forecast,  he  had  previously  given  that 
son  more  than  fortune,  in  giving  him  the  advantages 
of  a  liberal  education ;  and  well  did  my  friend  avail 
himself  of  those  advantages.  He  entered  Yale  College 
in  July,  1811,  and,  devoting  himself  most  assiduously 
•and  laboriously  to  his  studies,  graduated  in  that  ven 
erable  institution  in  September,  1815,  with  the  highest 
honors  of  his  class  and  the  confidence  and  attachment 
of  his  instructors. 

Immediately,  after  leaving  college,  he  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law  under  the  late  Chief  Justice  Thomas 
Clayton,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State,  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  283 

subsequently  pursued  it  with  him,  and  also  for  one  or 
two  years  at  the  Litchfield  Law  School,  and  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar  in  his  native  county  in  the  year 
1818.  From  his  high  grade  of  intellect  and  extraor 
dinary  capacity  for  labor,  he  came  to  the  bar  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence  seldom 
acquired  till  after  years  of  practice  ;  and  his  success 
at  the  bar  of  Kent  county,  where  he  located  himself, 
was  so  rapid  and  brilliant,  that  in  a  few  years  he 
stood  in  the  foremost  rank  of  his  profession,  with 
able  and  distinguished  lawyers  as  his  competitors.  He 
devoted  himself  to  his  profession,  and  took  no  very 
active  part  in  political  struggles  previous  to  the  year 
1827,  though  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legis 
lature  in  the  year  1824,  and  subsequently  filled  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 
In  the  division  of  political  opinions  which  ulti 
mately  led,  in  the  interval  between  the  election  of 
Mr.  Adams  and  that  of  General  Jackson,  to  the  or 
ganization  of  two  great  parties  throughout  the  country, 
he  adopted  the  principles  and  became  identified  with 
the  fortunes  of  the  Whig  party,  which  being  in  the 
ascendant  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  he  was  elected  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States  in  January,  1829,  and 
took  his  seat  in  this  body  in  December  following. 
His  public  services  in  the  Senate  require  no  comment, 
for  his  history  here  is  written  in  his  country's  annals. 
It  is  no  slight  evidence,  however,  of  the  highest 
order  of  merit,  that  a  young  man,  coming  into  public 
life  as  the  representative  of  one,  of  the  smallest  States 


284 


MEMOIR   OF 


in  the  Union,  at  a  time  when  such  men  as  Calhoun, 
Clay,  and  Webster  were  in  the  zenith  of  their  power 
and  influence,  should  rapidly  acquire  a  national  repu 
tation,  and  become  one  of  the  acknowledged  leaders 
of  the  great  party  to  which  he  was  attached.  Mr. 
Clayton  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate  on  the  expira 
tion  of  his  first  term  in  1835  '•>  but,  becoming  weary 
of  political  life,  he  resigned  his  place  in  December, 
1836.  The  confidence  of  the  Executive  bestowed  upon 
him  in  January,  1837,  with  the  general  approbation  of 
the  bar  and  the  people  of  Delaware,  the  office  of 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  which  he  also  resigned  in 
August,  1839;  having  in  that,  as  in  all  the  public 
situations  which  he  filled,  demonstrated  his  high  ca 
pacity  for  the  performance  of  its  duties. 

He  remained  in  private  life  during  the  ensuing  six 
years,  but  was  again  elected  to  the  Senate  in  March, 
1842  ;  and  on  the  accession  of  General  Taylor  to  the 
Presidency  in  1849,  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State 
was  tendered  to  him,  as  the  consequence  of  his 
national  reputation,  and  accepted.  The  death  of  Presi 
dent  Taylor  in  July,  1850,  again  placed  him  in  private 
life. 

During  the  period  which  he  held  the  position  of 
Secretary  of  State,  he  negotiated,  in  April,  1850,  the 
treaty  with  Great  Britain  commonly  called  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty.  That  treaty  was  ratified  by  more  than 
three  -  fourths  of  the  Senate;  and  I  may 'be  permitted 
to  say  that,  had  it  been  carried  out  according  to 
the  plain  and  obvious  Jmport  of  its  language,  would 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  385 

have  effected  all  which  this  country  should  desire  in 
relation  to  the  territory  of  Central  America  and  the 
safety  and  security  of  an  interoceanic  communication ; 
and  if  difficulties  have  since  arisen,  either  from  the 
aggressions  of  the  power  with  which  it  was  contracted, 
or  a  failure  on  our  part  to  insist  in  the  first  instance 
on  its  due  execution,  the  fault,  if  any,  rests  not  with 
him,  3s.  no  action  of .  that  power  contravening  its 
proper  construction  occurred  during  the  short  time 
which  he  retained  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  after 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty. 

He  remained  in  private  life  until  1853,  when  the 
confidence  of  his  State  again  returned  him  to  the 
Senate. 

It  would  be  useless,  if  not  idle,  for  me  to  dilate 
upon  his  commanding  powers  in  debate,  which  most 
of  those  around  me  have  so  often  witnessed. 

He  may  have  differed  with  many  of  us  in  opinion, 
but  none  can  deny  the  eminent  courtesy  and  ability 
which  he  displayed  .in  sustaining  his  views,  or  the 
broad  nationality  of  his  sentiments.  Indeed,  one  of 
his  most  striking  charactistics  was  the  intense  nation 
ality  of  his  feelings ;  and  numerous  instances  might 
be  cited  from  his  public  life  in  which,  where  the 
honor  or  the  interests  of  his  country  or  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  wa.s  involved,  he  broke  those  fetters 
with  which  the  spirit  of  party  but  too  often  trammels 
the  minds  of  even  the  most  distinguished  public  men. 

As    a    statesman    he    was    the    pride    of   his    State, 

and    a   cherished    leader  of    one    of    the    great    political 

36 


286  MEMOIR    OF 

parties    of  the   country   whilst   its    national    organization 
was    maintained. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  necessarily  less  known  to 
those  around  me,  as  the  sphere  of  his  forensic  action, 
with  few  exceptions,  was  within  the  limits  of  his  own 
State.  It  has  been  my  fortune,  however,  to  have 
frequently  witnessed  and  felt  -his  powers,  both  as  an 
associate  and  opponent ;  and  though  I  have  heard 
very  many  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  our 
country  in  cases  calling  for  the  highest  exercise  of 
their  capacity,  and  may  have  thought  a  few  possessed 
greater  powers  of  discrimination  and  others  a  more 
playful  fancy,  in  the  combination  of  all  his  faculties 
I  have  yet  to  meet  his  superior,  if,  indeed,  I  have 
met  his  equal,  as  an  advocate  before  a  jury.  I  will 
not  pause  now  to  analyze  the  peculiar  powers  which 
rendered  him  so  effective,  formidable,  and  successful  in 
his  forensic  pursuits.  It  is  sufficient  that  he  was  suc 
cessful  in  a  profession  in  which  merit  alone  can  com 
mand  success. 

To  his  great  mental  qualities  he  added  a  host  of 
virtues.  Affectionate  as  a  son,  devoted  as  a  husband, 
almost  too  indulgent  as  a  father,  he  was  a  kind  and 
generous  friend.  Of  exceeding  liberality,  his  purse  was 
open  to  those  he  loved  and  esteemed  with  an  almost 
careless  confidence.  Little  conversant  with,  and  some 
what  heedless  of  the  mere  conventionalities  of  society, 
there  was  a  charm  in  the  cordiality  of  his  manner 
which  endeared"  him  to  his.  friends  and  attracted  and 
fascinated  even  his  ordinary  acquaintances.  But,  Mr. 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON. 

President,  successful  as  was  my  friend  in  all  his  pur 
suits,  there  were  shadows  cast  upon  the  pathway  of 
his  life,  and  he  had  more  than  an  equal  share  of  the 
sorrows  and  disappointments  inevitable  to-  the  lot  of 
man.  He  achieved  fame  and  acquired  fortune,  and  his 
checks  in  the  pursuit  of  either  were  few  and  transient. 
This  is  the  bright  side  of  the  picture.  The  reverse 
presents  the  afflictions  to  which,  in  the  dispensation 
of  an  all-wise  Providence,  he  was  subjected  in  his  do 
mestic  relations. 

In  September,  1822,  he  married  the  daughter  of 
Dr.  James  Fisher,  of  Delaware,  an  accomplished  lady, 
and  the  object  of  his  first  affections.  After  a  little 
more  than  two  years  of  domestic  happiness,  she  died 
in  February,  1825,  leaving  him  two  sons,  and  to  him 
her  loss  was  a  life -long  sorrow.  He  cherished  her 
memory  with  an  almost  romantic  devotion,  and,  though 
unusually  demonstrative  as  to  his  ordinary  emotions 
and  feelings,  with  his  deeper  affections  it  was  other 
wise.  His  was  a  grief  which  spoke  not,  and  even  the 
observant  eye  of  friendship  could  only  see,  from 
momentary  glimpses,  how  immedicable  was  the  wound 
which  had  been  inflicted.  Of  the  two  children  which 
she  left  him,  the  youngest,  who  was  of  great  promise, 
both  intellectually  and  morally,  died  in  January,  1849, 
in  his  twenty  -  fourth  year,  and  the  other  two  years 
afterwards.  On  the  death  of  his  youngest  and  favorite 
child,  there  was  a  desolation  of  the  heart  which, 
though  it  vainly  courted  relief  in  the'  excitement  of 
public  life,  could  scarcely  be  realized  by  those  who 


MEMOIR    OF 

have  not  suffered  under  the  pressure  of  a  similar  sor 
row.  Perhaps  it  is  best  pictured  in  the  melancholy 
reflections  of  Wallenstein  : 

"  I   shall  grieve  down  this  blow ;    of  that   I   am  conscious. 
What  does  not  man  grieve  down  ? 

From  the    highest, 

As  from  the  vilest  thing  of  every  day 
He  learns  to  wean   himself;    for  the  strong   hours 
Conquer  him.    Yet   I   feel  what   I  have  lost 
In  him.     The  bloom  is  vanished   from   my  life. 
For,   O !   he  stood  beside  me  like    my  youth, 
Transformed  for  me  the  real  to  a  dream, 
Clothing  the  palpable  and  the  familiar 
With  golden  exhalations  of  the  da*wn. 
Whatever  fortunes  wait  my  future   toils, 
The  beautiful  is  vanished,  and  returns  not." 

Such,  Mr.  President,  was  my  colleague's  career, 
and  such  his  sorrows.  He  stood  isolated  in  the  world ; 
for,  though  there  remained  affectionate  relatives  and 
kind  friends,  they  could  not  satisfy  the  longing  of  the 
heart  for  those  nearer  and  dearer  who  had  passed 
away.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  corroding  effect  of  this 
great  grief,  and  the  indisposition  to  physical  exertion 
which  it  naturally  produced,  undermined  a  very  vigor 
ous  constitution,  and  foreshortened  his  life,  at  an  age 
when  ripened  experience  and  undecayed  mental  powers 
would  have  rendered  his  services  most  valuable  to  his 
country. 

Among  the  graves  of  the  last  century,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  in  an  old  churchyard  at  New  Castle,  there  is 
an  epitaph  upon  the  tombstone  of  a  Mr.  Curtis,  who 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  289 

died  in  1753,  after  having  filled  many  public  offices 
in  the  then  colony  of  the  "  Three  Lower  Counties 
upon  Delaware,"  attributed,  I  believe  correctly,  to  the 
pen  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  It  might,  with  a  change  of 
name,  be  most  appropriately  inscribed  upon  the  tomb 
of  my  lamented  friend  : 

"  If  to  be  prudent  in  council, 
Upright  in  judgment, 

Faithful   in  trust, 
Give  value  to  the  public  man  ; 
If  to  be  sincere  in    friendship, 

Affectionate  to   relations, 

And   kind  to  all  around  him, 

Make  the  private  man   amiable, 

Thy   death,    O   Clayton, 

As   a  general  loss, 
Long  shall   be  lamented." 

I  will  but  further  add,  as  the  last  and  crowning 
act  of  my  colleague's  life,  that  he  died  in  the  faith 
and  with  the  hopes  -of  a  Christian. 

Mr.    President,    I    offer   the    following   resolutions : 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  members  of  the  Senate,  from  the 
sincere  desire  of  showing  every  mark  of  respect  due  to  the  mem 
ory  of  the  Hon.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of 
Delaware,  will  go  into  mourning,  by  wearing  crape  on  the  left  arm 
for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for 
the  memory  of  the  Hon.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON,  the  Senate  do  now 
adjourn. 

Mr.    CRITTENDEN,   of  Kentucky : — 

MR.  PRESIDENT:  —  I  rise  for  the  purpose  of  seconding 


200  MEMOIR    OF 

the  motion  that  has  been  made  for  the  adoption  of 
the  resolutions  just  offered. 

I  would  not  willingly  disturb,  by  a  single  word, 
the  sad  and  solemn  silence  which  has  been  impressed 
upon  the  Senate  by  the  announcement  that  has  just 
been  made  of  the  death  of  Mr.  CLAYTON;  but  I  feel  that 
it  is  due  to  this  occasion,  and  to  our  long  and  cher 
ished  friendship,  that  I  should  offer  to  the  memory  of 
my  departed  friend  the  humble  tribute  of  my  respect 
and  affection. 

He  is  so  freshly  remembered  here  that  I  can  hard 
ly  realize  to  myself  that  we  are  to  see  him  in  this 
chamber  no  more ;  that  I  am  no  more  to  see  him 
take  his  seat  by  my  side,  where  he  was  so  long  ac 
customed  to  sit ;  no  more  to  receive  that  cheerful, 
happy,  cordial  salutation  with  which  he  greeted  us  every 
morning  as  we  met  in  this  chamber. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  must  restrain  these  recollec 
tions  and  the  feelings  to  which  they  give  rise. 

I  will  not  attempt  any  delineation  of  the  character 
of  Mr.  CLAYTON,  or  any  enumeration  of  his  public 
services.  These  belong  to  history.  But  we  who  were 
his  associates,  who  saw,  and  knew,  and  heard  him, 
can  bear  witness  that  he  was  a  great  man  and  a  great 
statesman,  of  unsullied  and  unquestioned  patriotism  and 
integrity,  and  that  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  cabinet 
he  rendered  great  service  to  his  country.  If  history 
be  just  to  him,  she  will  gather  up  all  these  materials, 
and  out  of  them  she  will  mould  for  him  such  a  crown 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2gi 

as  she  awards  to  great  and  virtuous  statesmen  who 
serve  their  country  faithfully  and  well. 

The  death  of  Mr.  CLAYTON,  is  indeed  a  public  loss, 
a  national  misfortune ;  and  to  his  native  State,  which 
he  so  long  and  honorably  represented  in  this  body,  a 
bereavement  at  which  she  may  well  mourn,  as  the 
mother  mourneth  over  a  favorite  child.  He  loved  and 
served  her  with  all  his  might  and  all  his  heart,  and 
acquired  .  for  his  noble  little  Delaware  fresh  titles 
to  respect  and  distinction  in  the  Union.  She  can  no 
longer  command  his  services ;  but  the  memory  of  him 
will  remain  to  her  as  a  rich  treasure ;  and  his  name, 
bright  with  recorded  honors,  will  ascend  to  take  its 
place  with  the  names  of  her  Bayards,  her  Rodneys, 
and  her  other  illustrious  dead,  and  with  them,  like  so 
many  stars,  will  shine  upon  her  with  all  their  benign 
influence. 

It  must  be  pleasing  to  us  all  to  learn  from  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Delaware  (Mr.  BAYARD)  that 
Mr.  CLAYTON  died  a  Christian.  So  he  should  have 
died.  Such  a  death  gives  to  humanity  its  proper  dig 
nity.  Full  of  the  world's  honor,  he  died  full  of  the 
more  precious  hopes  that  lie  beyond  the  grave.  Of 
him  who  so  dies  we  may  well  exclaim,  "  O  death ! 
where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave !  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 

Mr.    CASS,    of  Michigan  : — 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  —  Once  more  are  our  duties  to  the 
living  suspended  by  the  last  sad  tribute  of  regard  to 
the  memory  of  the  dead.  Another  of  our  associates 
has  passed  from  this  scene  of  his  labors  to  that  dread 


MEMOIR    OF 

responsibility  which  equally  awaits  the  representative 
and  the  constituent,  the  ruler  and  the  ruled.  All 
human  distinctions  are  levelled  before  the  destroyer, 
and  in  the  narrow  house  to  which  we  are  hastening 
the  mighty  and  the  lowly  lie  side  by  side  together. 
There  our  departed  friend  has  preceded  us.  When  we 
separated,  but  a  few  days  since,  he  was  a  bright  and 
shining  light  among  his  countrymen.  Returning  to  re 
sume  our  functions,  we  find  that  light  extinguished  in 
the  darkness  of  the  tomb.  Well  may  we  exclaim,  in 
the  impressive  language  of  the  Psalmist,  man's  'days 
are  as  a  shadow  that  passeth  away. 

His  character  and  services  have  been  portrayed  with 
equal  power  and  fidelity  by  the  Senators  who  have  pre 
ceded  me,  one  of  them  his  respected  colleague,  and 
the  other  his  personal  and  political  friend,  and  both 
of  them  entitled  by  long  acquaintance  to  speak  as 
they  have  spoken  of  him ;  and  their  words  of  elo 
quence  have  found  a  responsive  feeling  in  the  hearts 
of  their  auditors. 

I  cannot  lay  claim  to  the  same  relations,  but  I 
knew  him  during  many  years,  and  his  high  qualities 
have  left  their  impress  upon  my  mind,  and  I  rise  to 
add  my  feeble  testimonial  of  regret  that  he  has  been 
taken  from  among  us. 

The  deceased  Senator  from  Delaware  was  long 
identified  with  the  political  history  of  the  country- 
Sent  here  by  the  confidence  of  his  native  State  thirty 
years  ago,  he  brought  with  him  eminent  qualifications 
for  the  position,  and  which  led  to  the  high  distinction 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  293 

he  acquired.  To  a  vigorous  and  powerful  intellect, 
improved  by  early  training,  he  added  varied  and  exten 
sive  acquirements,  the  fruit  of  ripe  study  and  of  acute 
observation  ;  and  he  possessed  a  profound  knowledge) 
rare  indeed,  of  the  principles  of  our  Constitution,  and 
of  those  great  questions  connected  with  our  peculiar 
political  institutions  which  so  often  present  themselves 
for  solution,  and  sometimes  under  circumstances  of 
perilous  agitation.  He  was  a  prompt  and  able  debater, 
as  we  all  know,  and  touched  no  subject  upon  which 
he  did  not  leave  marks  of  thorough  investigation.  In 
whatever  situation  he  was  placed  he  met  the  public 
expectation  by  the  ability  he  displayed,  and  by  his 
devotion  to  the-  honor  and  interest  of  his  country. 

In  looking  back  upon  our  communication  with  this 
lamented  statesman,  every  member  'of  this  body  will  bear 
testimony  to  the  kindness  of  his  feelings,  and  to  the 
comity  and  courtesy  which  marked  his  social  inter 
course.  He  was  a  happy  example  of  that  union  of 
decision  of  opinion  and  firmness  of  purpose,  in  public 
life,  with  the  amenity  of  disposition  which  constitutes 
one  of  the  great  charms  of  private  life  —  a  union  the 
more  commendable  as  it  is  rarely  found  in  the  ex 
citing  scenes  of  political  controversy.  His  was  a  most 
genial  nature,  and  we  cannot  recall  him  without  recall 
ing  this  trait  of  his  character. 

It  is  a  source  of  consolation  to  all  his  friends 
that  when  the  last  change  came  it  found  him  pre 
pared  to  meet  it.  He  entered  the  dark  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death  with  a  firm  conviction  of  the  truth 


MEMOIR    OF 

of  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  with  an  unshaken 
reliance  upon  the  mercy  of  the  Saviour.  He  added 
another  to  the  long  list  of  eminent  men  who  have  ex 
amined  the  evidences  of  revealed  religion,  and  who 
have  found  it  the  will  and  the  word  of  God;  and 
he  died  in  the  triumphant  hope  of  a  blessed  immor 
tality,  which  the  Gospel  holds  out  to  every  true  and 
humble  believer. 

Mr.    SEWARD,    of  New    York :  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  consult  rather  my  feelings  than 
my  judgment  in  rising  to  address  the  Senate  on  this 
melancholy  and  affecting  occasion.  While  it  seems  to 
me  that  I  have  few  nearer  friends  remaining  to  me  than 
JOHN  M.  CLAYTON  was,  I  remember,  nevertheless,  that 
he  was  by  a  long  distance  my  senior  in  the  Federal 
councils,  and  that,  although  we  were  many  years  mem 
bers  of  one  political  party,  yet  we  differed  so  often 
and  so  widely  that  we  could  scarcely  be  called  fellow  - 
actors  seeking  common  political  objects  and  maintain 
ing  common  political  principles.  But  it  has  been  truly 
said  of  him  that  he  was  a  man  of  most  genial  na 
ture.  The  kindness  which  he  showed  to  me  so  early 
and  continued  to  show  to  me  so  long,  removed  all  the 
constraints  which  circumstances  created,  and  I  never 
failed  to  seek  his  counsel  when  it  was  needed,  and 
his  co -operatio^n  when  I  felt  that  I  had  a  right  to 
claim  it. 

Mr.  President,  I  think  no  one  is  surprised  by  this 
painful  announcement.  His  health  and  strength  were 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  295 

obviously  so  much  impaired  by  frequent  visitations  of 
disease  during  the  last  regular  session  of  Congress, 
that  when  I  parted  with  him  in  September  last  I  was 
oppressed  with  the  conviction  that  I  should  meet  him 
no  more  on  earth.  •  The  remembrances  of  kindness 
and  affection  he  then  expressed  to  me  will  remain 
with  me  until  I  shall  meet  him,  as  I  trust,  in  a  bet 
ter  and  a  happier  world. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  fallen  into  these  funereal 
ceremonies,  without  any  prepared,  or  even  meditated, 
discourse.  Perhaps  if  I  shall  let  my  heart  pour  forth 
its  own  feelings,  I  may  render  to  the  illustrious  dead 
a  tribute  not  less  just  than  that  which  I  could  have 
prepared,  had  I  applied  myself  to  the  records  of  our 
country,  and  brought  into  one  group  the  achievements 
of  his  life. 

This  I  must  say,  that  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON  seemed  to 
me  peculiarly  fortunate  in  achieving  just  what  he  pro 
posed  to  himself  to  achieve,  and  in  attaining  fully  all 
that  he  desired.  His  respected  and  distinguished  col 
league  has  given  testimony  which  was  germane,  though 
hardly  so  necessary  as  he  thought,  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Clayton  was  eminent  in  his  profession  as  a  law 
yer  and  an  advocate.  He  began  life  with  the  purpose 
of  attaining  that  professional  eminence.  We  who  are 
here  his  survivors  knew  him  in  other  spheres.  His 
ambition  led  him  at  different  periods  into  two  differ 
ent  departments  of  public  service  —  the  one  that  of  a 
Senator,  the  other  that  of  a  minister  or  diplomatist. 

Fame   is   attained    in   the    Senate   by   pursuing  either 


2^6  MEMOIR    OF 

one  of  two  quite  divergent  courses,  namely,  either  by 
the  practice  of  delivering  the  prepared,  elaborate,  and 
exhausting  oration,  which  can  be  done  only  unfrequent- 
ly,  and  always  on  transcendent  occasions,  or  by  skill, 
power,  and  dignity  in  the  daily  and  desultory  debates, 
on  all  questions  of  public  interest,  as  they  happen  to 
arise. 

I  happen  to  know,  or  to  have  good  reason  to 
think,  that  Mr.  CLAYTON'S  ambition  preferred  this  last  - 
mentioned  line  of  Senatorial  effort.  He  kindly  became 
my  counsellor  when  I  entered  this  chamber  as  a 
representative  of  my  State,  and  his  well  -  remembered 
advice  was  couched  nearly  in  these  words :  "Do  not 
seek  great  occasions  on  which  to  make  great  speeches 
—  one  in  a  session  of  Congress  —  but  perform  your 
duty  to  your  constituents  and  your  country  by  de 
bating  all  important  subjects  of  administration  as  they 
occur."  Senators  all  around  me  will  remember  how 
constantly  and  indefatigably  he  himself  pursued  the 
line  which  he  had  thus  marked  out  for  me. 

Those  who  shall  now  read,  as  I  am  sure  posterity 
will  read,  the  recorded  debates  of  the  Senate  for  the 
period  embraced  within  the  last  twenty-five  years,  will 
find  that,  although  surrounded  by  mighty  men  in  ar 
gument  and  speech,  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON  was  one  among 
the  few  effective  statesmen  who  determined  or  influ 
enced  the  administration  of  the  government  of  this 
great  country. 

His   other   department   of  public   service    was    diplo 
macy.       Never   have    I    seen     a    man     more    admirably 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  2Q? 

qualified  by  astuteness,  comprehensiveness,  and  vigor, 
for  that  arduous  and  responsible  branch  of  public  life. 
He  excelled  not  merely  by  reason  of  these  qualifica 
tions,  but  also,  and  eminently  so,  by  reason  of  his 
frankness  of  character  and  conduct.  He  was  frank, 
open,  direct,  and  manly.  He  showed  his  purposes  in 
outspoken  and  direct  communications.  Perhaps  we  owe 
to  him  as  much  as  to  any  other  of  our  many  able 
diplomatists,  the  achievement  of  the  United  States  in 
instructing  the  nations  of  Europe  that  diplomacy  is 
best  conducted  when  it  leads  through  open,  fair,  and 
direct  courses. 

Mr.  CLAYTON  was,  as  has  been  truly  claimed  for 
him,  a  patriot  —  a  lover  of  all  the  parts  and  of  the 
whole  of  our  common  country.  The  peculiar  location 
and  character  of  the  State  which  he  represented  — 
lying  midway  between  the  North  and  the  South  —  proba 
bly  had  the  effect  to  confirm  his  natural  tendency  of 
temper,  and  render  him  conservative,  careful,  cautious, 
and  conciliatory.  I  respond  to  the  claims  made  in  his 
behalf  by  his  colleague  and  by  his  venerable  friend 
and  compatriot,  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  CRIT- 
TENDEN),  in  this  respect,  when  I  say  that  I  regarded 
his  presence  in  these  halls  as  a  link  of  union  between 
the  generation  which  has  passed  away  and  that  gen 
eration  on  which  the  responsibilities  of  national  con 
duct  have  devolved,  and  his  influence  necessary  for  the 
happy  Solution  of  those  great  questions  involving 
cherished  interests  of  the  North  and  of  the  South, 
which  press  upon  us  with  so  great  urgency.  Such 


2og  MEMOIR   OF 

was  the  character  he  maintained  here  as  a  Senator  and 
a  legislator — an  umpire  between  conflicting  interests, 
a  moderator  between  contending  parties.  How  natural, 
then,  that  he  should  be  eminently  national,  eminently 
comprehensive  in  his  action  as  a  minister  and  a  diplo 
matist  ! 

A  very  distinguished  French  savan  (Mons.  Ampere) 
begins  his  journal  as  a  traveller  with  an  account  of 
his  visit  at  the  World's  Fair,  held,  I  think,  in  1852, 
in  London;  and  he  pronounces  that  great  exhibition 
of  the  industry  of  so  many  nations  as  the  first  uni 
versal  fact  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  He 
egregiously  erred.  That  great  event  was  neither  the 
most  important,  nor  was  it  the  first,  of  the  universal 
facts  which  have  transpired  in  our  own  day.  The 
first  universal  fact  —  a  fact  indicating  an  ultimate  union 
of  the  nations  —  was  the  Clayton  and  Bulwer  treaty, 
that  treaty  which  provided  for  the  opening  of  passages 
of  communication  and  connexion  across  the  Central 
American  isthmus,  to  the  growing  civilization  of  the 
western  and  modern,  and  the  declining  civilization  of 
the  eastern  and  ancient  world.  It  was  the  felicitous 
good  fortune  of  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON,  not  more  than 
his  genius  and  ability,  that  enabled  him  to  link  his 
own  fame  with  that  great  and  stupendous  transaction, 
and  so  to  win  for  himself  the  eternal  gratitude  of 
future  generations,  not  only  in  his  own  country,  but 
throughout  the  great  divisions  of  the  earth.  Whatever 
difficulties  have  hitherto  attended  the  execution  of  that 
great  treaty,  whatever  future  difficulties  may  attend  it, 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  399 

the  treaty  itself  is  the  bow  of  promise  of  peace,  har 
mony,  and  concord  to  all  nations,  as  it  is  an  imper 
ishable  monument  to  the  fame  of  him  whose  worth 
we  celebrate,  and  whose  loss  we  deplore. 

The    resolutions    were    agreed    to,    and    the    Senate 
adjourned. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES,   WEDNESDAY, 
DECEMBER   3,  1856. 

A  message  was  received  from  the  Senate,  by  As- 
BURY  DICKENS,  their  Secretary,  announcing  to  the  House 
information  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON, 
late  Senator  from  Delaware,  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
Senate  thereon. 

The    resolutions  of  the  Senate   having   been    read,  — 

Mr.  CULLEN,  of  Delaware,  rose  and  addressed  the 
House  as  follows : 

I  rise,  Mr.  Speaker,  for  the  purpose  of  performing, 
to  me,  a  most  painful  duty :  it  is  to  announce  to  this 
House,  and  to  the  nation,  the  death  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 

I  need  not  portray  to  this  House  the  character  of 
the  deceased.  It  was  known  to  us  all,  and  to  the 
nation.  His  reputation  is  spread  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  this  land ;  but  I  cannot  let  this  occa 
sion  pass  without  making  some  remarks  which  may 
show  to  this  House  and  the  country  the  light  in 


MEMOIR    OF 

which  I  would  invite  them  to  regard  the  career  of 
of  our  deceased  Senator  and  statesman. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  research  and  great  intellect, 
of  profound  learning  and  uncommon  quickness.  He 
has  occupied  a  place  in  the  history  of  this  nation  for 
a  period  of  thirty  years,  as  one  of  the  most  distin 
guished  citizens  of  this  country.  He  was  born  in  the 
village  of  Dagsborough,  in  the  county  of  Sussex,  and 
State  of  Delaware,  on  the  24th  day  of  July,  1796. 
He  entered  Yale  College,  and  graduated  in  1815,  with 
the  first  honors  of  his  class.  Upon  his  return  to  the 
State  of  Delaware,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the 
law  with  his  relative,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Clayton,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  bar  of  that  State,  and  for 
many  years  a  member  of  this  House,  and  afterwards 
one  of  our  Senators ;  he  was  a  very  distinguished 
jurist,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession.  With 
him  he  studied  one  year,  and  then  removed  to  the 
Litchfield  Law  School,  then  under  the  charge  of  two 
distinguished  professors,  Judges  Gould  and  Reeves.  He 
there  pursued  his  studies,  with  great  diligence  and  in 
dustry,  for  the  period  required  by  the  rules  of  our 
courts,  previous  to  his  admission  to  the  bar  of  the 
Superior  Courts  of  Delaware,  to  which  he  was  admit 
ted  in  1818,  in  the  county  of  his  birth.  His  splendid 
examination  gave  early  promise  of  his  future  eminence 
and  success. 

He  soon  became  distinguished  in  that  position.  It 
has  been  my  fortune  to  be  engaged  with  him  in  the 
argument  of  many  causes,  both  as  his  colleague  and 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON. 


301 


as  his  opponent ;  and  I  must  say  to  this  House,  and 
to  the  nation,  that  never  have  I  witnessed  the  display 
of  such  quickness  of  apprehension,  such  memory,  such 
a  grasping  intellect,  such  learning,  such  zeal  and  inge 
nuity,  as  were  displayed  by  the  deceased  on  every  oc 
casion  in  which  he  found  it  necessary  to  exert  his 
great  mind  in  the  progress  of  a  cause.  As  a  lawyer, 
he  was  profound  and  industrious,  of  untiring  patience. 
He  viewed  his  cases  in  every  point  of  light  in  which 
they  could  be  seen,  and  could  see  every  point  in 
them  at  a  glance.  But  he  was  not  satisfied  with  a 
glance.  He  investigated  every  position,  and  was  pre 
pared  for  every  question  which  could  arise  in  the 
case.  I  have  seen  gentlemen  whose  legal  minds,  I 
thought,  were  equal  to  his ;  but  when  he  prepared 
himself,  never  has  there  been  known  in  the  State  of 
Delaware  a  man  who  could  be  said  to  be  his  equal. 
It  is  confidently  everywhere  asserted  that  he  never 
saw  his  equal,  especially  as  an  advocate  before  a  jury. 
As  an  advocate,  he  excelled  any  member  of  the 
bar  whose  career  has  been  witnessed  by  any  person 
now  living.  I  have  known  him  to  be  successful  in 
cases  which  any  other  lawyer  would  have  despaired 
of;  and  so  keen  was  his  perception  of  the  ludicrous, 
that  if  the  case  of  his  opponent  presented-  any  features 
of  which  advantage  could  be  taken  by  turning  them 
into  ridicule,  he  was  sure  to  succeed.  I  have  known 
him  to  gain  causes  certainly  against  law,  and  the 
evidence,  and  the  facts  of  the  case,  by  his  superior 

ingenuity,   and    his    deep    knowledge    of   human    nature. 

38 


302 


MEMOIR    OF 


As  a  special  pleader,  he  was  not  surpassed  by  any 
gentleman  at  that  profession.  His  talents  as  a  lawyer, 
even  when  he  had  been  but  a  few  years  at  the  bar 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  soon  became  known 
throughout  his  native  State ;  and  before  he  had  been 
at  the  bar  three  years  he  was  sought  after  and  en 
gaged  in  every  important  cause  in  the  State.  Every 
litigant  was  anxious  to  procure  his  services,  thinking 
his  aid  sufficient  to  secure  certain  success. 

But  he  was  not  long  to  enjoy  the  quiet  of  his 
profession.  He  soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Whig 
party  in  the  State  of  Delaware.  Though  quite  young, 
he  was  known  to  possess  more  extensive  and  com 
manding  influence  than  any  other  gentleman  in  that 
party,  of  which  there  were  many  of  great  talent,  learn 
ing,  and  distinction.  In  the  year  1824  he  was  selected 
by  Governor  Paynter  as  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
State  of  Delaware.  That  was  the  first  instance  in 
.  which  an  office  of  so  much  importance  and  responsi 
bility  was  ever  conferred  upon  a  man  so  young  and 
of  so  little  experience.  He  performed  the  duties  of 
that  office,  as  well  as  of  all  others  which  he  held, 
with  skill,  integrity,  and  great  ability,  and  left  it  with 
great  popularity.  I  should  state  that  the  first  public 
employment  in  which  he  was  engaged  was  that  of  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Delaware,  and  soon  after  that  of  Auditor  of 
Accounts  —  an  office  which,  I  believe,  is  peculiar  to 
the  States  of  Delaware  and  New  York.  When  he 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Auditor  of 


JOHN    M.    CLAYTON.  303 

Accounts,  everything  was  in  confusion  there,  and  though 
but  a  young  man,  he  soon  reduced  the  chaotic  mass 
into  a  perfect  system.  He  left  upon  the  records  of 
Auditor  the  impress  of  his  own  great  mind ;  and  the 
business  of  that  station  has  ever  since  been  conducted 
upon  his  own  great  model  and  system,  which  it  is 
believed  can  never  be  improved. 

He  was  next  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  in  A.  D.  1829,  when  he  was  barely  of  the 
age  which  the  Constitution  requires  for  that  station. 
He  was  re-elected  in  January,  1835.  He  resigned 
that  office  before  the  expiration  of  his  term,  and  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of  Delaware  in 
1837.  That  station,  like  all  others  which  he  filled,  he 
adorned  by  his  learning,  by  his .  great  ability,  and 
by  his  spotless  integrity.  No  man,  perhaps,  ever  left 
that  office  with  so  high  a  reputation  as  a  judge,  as 
did  the  Hon.  John  M.  Clayton ;  and  I  may  be  per 
mitted  to  say  upon  this  occasion,  that  in  the  many 
causes  which  he  decided,  it  is  not  in  the  recollection 
of  any  member  of  the  bar  that  there  was  ever  a  writ 
of  error  or  an  appeal  taken  from  any  decision  which 
he  made.  He  always  gave  such  authorities  and  rea 
sons  for  the  decisions  which  he  made,  so  full  and 
satisfactory,  that  no  counsel  ever  advised  his  client  to 
undergo  or  risk  the  chance  of  a  reversal  of  the  judg 
ment  given  by  the  court  of  which  he  was  the  Chief 
Justice.  He  was  afterwards  elected  by  the  people  as 
a  member  of  the  convention  to  amend  the  Constitution 
of  the  State  of  Delaware.  In  that  convention  he  was 


304 


MEMOIR    OF 


the  leading  member,  which  gave  the  amendments  of 
our  Constitution  to  the  people  of  Delaware,  thus  leav 
ing  upon  that  Constitution  the  marks  and  footprints  of 
that  high  and  mighty  intellect  which  he  was  known 
to  possess  and  command.  The  judiciary  system  of 
Delaware,  planned  and  produced  by  him,  has  ever 
since  been  looked  upon  and  held  as  a  masterpiece  of 
intellect,  foresight,  and  wisdom,  which  has  never  been 
surpassed. 

He  resigned  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  in  1839, 
and  was  again  elected  in  1845  to  the  United  States 
Senate  for  the  full  term  of  six  years.  He  resigned 
his  office  as  Senator,  and  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States  in  1849.  He  was  again 
elected  Senator  in  1853. 

The  deceased  died  at  Dover,  the  place  of  his  resi 
dence,  November  9,  1856.  It  has  fallen,  Mr.  Speaker, 
to  the  lot  of  few  men  to  hold  and  enjoy  that  deep- 
rooted  and  hearty  popularity  which  our  deceased  friend 
possessed  from  his  first  admission  to  the  bar  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  engaged,  won,  and  held  the 
affections  of  all  with  whom  he  was  associated  and 
connected.  Perhaps  there  is  no  man,  certainly  none 
of  his  eminence  and  distinction,  who  had  fewer  ene 
mies.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  he  never  bore 
malice  towards  any  human  being.  In  the  many  con 
tests  in  which  he  was  engaged,  as  must  be  expected, 
there  was  some  ill  -  feeling  and  strife  engendered.  I 
have  known  those  who  have  expressed  ill-feelings  to 
wards  him,  and  towards  whom,  perhaps,  he  entertained 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  305 

no  very  kind  feelings ;  but  whenever  he  was  approached 
with  kindness,  even  by  an  open  enemy,  his  better 
feelings  instantly  gained  'the  ascendant,  and  in  a  moment 
he  was  fully  reconciled.  Every  passionate  feeling 
went  from  him,  and  he  received  those  who  had  been 
his  enemies  with  all  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  void 
of  every  bitter  feeling.  His  reconciliation  was  perfect 
and  sincere.  He  fully  pardoned  and  forgave,  and  the 
past  was  wholly  forgotten  by  him.  He  was  one  of 
the  warmest  and  kindest- hearted  men  that  ever  lived. 
As  a  husband  and  father  he  never  was  surpassed. 
As  a  friend  he  was  sincere,  and  was  beloved  by  all 
with  whom  he  was  associated.  I  need  not  say  to  this 
House  that  he  had  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom 
he  was  associated  and  had  connexion,  and  never  was 
that  confidence  betrayed  or  misplaced. 

The  State  of  Delaware  now  mourns  the  death  of 
her  most  distinguished  son,  statesman,  and  patriot. 
We  mourn  his  death  at  this  time  more  particularly, 
because,  from  the  principles  which  he  held,  his  life 
would  have  been  most  useful.  He  was  a  conservative 
man.  He  loved  his  country,  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  country.  He  loved  the  Union  and  every  part  of 
it.  There  was  nothing  like  disunion  in  him.  He  held 
to  the  Union  to  the  last,  and  called  upon  his  friends 
and  relatives  to  stand  by  it.  Though  not  connected 
with  any  of  the  parties  which  engaged  in  the  late 
Presidential  contest,  yet  he  did  not  fail  to  make  it 
known  to  all  with  whom  he  was  connected,  that  he 
stood  by  the  principles  which  he  had  always  advocated, 


306  MEMOIR    OF 

and    to    call    upon    them    to    remember    their     country 
and   the   Union   as   above   all    price. 

I  feel,  sir,  that  this  is  a  mournful  occasion.  A 
man  of  great  distinction,  of  known  influence,  and  of 
the  highest  attainments  in  our  country,  has  been  swept 
from  us  suddenly  and  unexpectedly.  The  State  of  Dela 
ware  mourns  the  loss  of  her  most  distinguished  son. 
His  death  is  a  loss  to  the  nation.  Ever  since  he  has 
been  in  the  Senate,  even  from  his  first  session  there, 
he  has  taken  an  active  participation  in  all  important 
debates  which  have  occurred  in  that  body.  His 
speeches  and  state  papers  will  make  a  work  of  four 
or  five  volumes.  They  will  be  consulted  by  future 
statesmen  as  models  of  oratory,  as  models  of  good 
sense,  and  as  models  of  patriotism  and  of  wisdom. 
His  mind  was  powerful  ;  his  memory  most  extraordi 
nary  and  retentive ;  his  habits  were  exceedingly  regu 
lar.  It  has  often  been  asserted,  and  never,  to  my 
knowledge,  contradicted,  that,  during  the  four  years 
he  was  a  student  and  member  of  Yale  College,  he 
never  missed  a  single  recitation ;  never  once  absented 
himself  from  prayers,  morning  or  evening;  never,  dur 
ing  the  whole  four  years,  was  once  absent  from  church ; 
and  never,  upon  any  occasion,  violated  a  single  rule 
or  law  of  the  college.  His  constitution  enabled  him 
to  endure  almost  any  amount  of  laborious  investiga 
tion.  I  have  known  him  to  be  engaged  two,  and  even 
three  successive  nights,  without  sleep,  in  the  investiga 
tion  of  a  single  case.  But  that  constitution,  strong 
and  powerful  as  it  was,  had  at  last  to  yield  to  the 


JOHN    M.    CLA  YTON.  307 

fell  destroyer.  Disease  enfeebled  and  broke  him  down, 
and  we  now  mourn  his  loss. 

I  rejoice  to  say  that  he  died  a  Christian.  From 
his  youth  he  ever  had  the  most  profound  respect  and 
reverence  for  the  Christian  religion.  He  fully  believed 
in  the  truth  of  Divine  revelation  before  his  death ;  he 
made  an  open  profession  of  the  religion  of  the  Saviour ; 
was  formally  admitted  into  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Dover,  where  he  died ;  and  his  whole  deportment  and 
conversation,  from  the  time  of  his  profession  up  to 
time  of  his  death,  showed  the  full  sincerity  of  his  pro 
fession —  that  he  was  a  sincere  Christian.  He  greatly 
rejoiced  in  the  evidence  of  his  acceptance  as  an  hum 
ble  believer.  "  He  died  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
and  his  latter  end  was  like  his."  He  died  in  the  full 
assurance  of  faith  and  of  hope. 

I  hold  in  my  hands  some  resolutions  which  I  .pro 
pose  to  offer  to  the  House  for  its  adoption. 

The    resolutions    were   read,    and   are   as    follows : 

Resolved,  That  this  House  deeply  laments  the  recent  death  of  the 
Hon.  JOHN  M.  CLAYTON,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  the 
State  of  Delaware;  and  that  as  a  testimonial  of  respect  for  his  mem 
ory,  the  members  of  the  House  will  wear  crape  on  the  left  arm  for 
thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  clerk  communicate  a  copy  of  the  foregoing 
resolution  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved  (as  a  further  mark  of  respect),  That  the  House  do  ncfw 
adjourn. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to ;  and  thereupon  the 
House  adjourned. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A  A         001  409  393         4 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
University  of  California,  San  Diego 

DATE  DUE 

DEC  11 1978 


C139 


UCSD  Libr. 


